Ireland allows Muslim police officers to wear hijab
The police service of Ireland said it would follow the footsteps of its Scottish and Northern Ireland counterparts by allowing Muslim female officers to wear the hijab.
The police service of Ireland said it would follow the footsteps of its Scottish and Northern Ireland counterparts by allowing Muslim female officers to wear the hijab.
“I hope this move will encourage people from minority communities to join the ‘An Garda Síochána’ police service,” Commissioner Drew Harris said, the Irish Legal reported.
He further said that Sikh citizens will also be allowed to wear their traditional turban.
In an official statement, the police service directly highlighted that its approach was “in line with that adopted by police services such as the PSNI, Police Scotland, New Zealand Police, NYPD, and other police services in UK, Australia, and Canada.”
In November 2018, a High Court judge in Trinidad ruled that Muslim women police officers are to be allowed to wear their hijabs while on duty.
In 2016, Turkey allowed female police officers to don the hijab.
The move followed an earlier announcement by Police Scotland which declared hijab an optional part of its uniform to encourage more female Muslims to consider policing as a career option.
Similarly, in Canada, the government announced in 2016 that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would allow its officers to wear hijab as part of their uniforms, in the hope of boosting the number of female Muslim recruits.
