The gardai are the official organ charged with the implementation, as much as possible, of the laws of the state. The laws are generated, we hope, with regard to what is right and what is wrong and are designed to be within the broad set of ideas that are outlined in the constitution.

We generally find ourselves in the territory of where we are constantly running to simply stand still. Society changes, availability of guns becomes easier, laws that were unnecessary years ago because the techology didnt exist (say downloading music) now become obligatory.

So, we find ourselves in a situation where a person wants to join the guards and wants to replace some of the uniform so that they can wear their religious symbol.

This cannot and should not be allowed. No religious symbolism should be allowed. It has no place in an area of society where we should be trying to maintain independence.

It is of course, the job of the Gardai to uphold somebody’s right to have religious conviction and the Gardai are responsible for ensuring that people do not experience intolerance and bias as a result of negative attitudes toward their religion.

However, this issue should be non-negotiable. The Gardai are not a religious organisation. The uniform is exactly that - a uniform. Uni. Form.

It is not a many-form.

I am not advocating for Gardai to only be atheist, have no political convictions, etc. I am simply saying that it is not racist to have a uniform. It wasn’t racist in the past, it is not racist now and it shouldn’t be considered racist in the future.

I am more than a little tired of people shouting racism at every turn and twist. It really does not help the cause of people truly against real racism.

I don’t have to write about The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

So, time to stop the nonsense. The Guards are secular and should remain secular. No winklepicker shoes, no ash wednesday ashes, no turbans. Period.

The uniform is the uniform and it needs to stay that way. I don’t want to wear a priests robes, so what do I do? I don’t join the priesthood, that’s what I do.

My hope is, of course, that the Sikh community can come up with a situation where a Sikh can join the guards but wear the Garda uniform. I don’t know if it is possible, but I would be very unhappy to have the alternative situation occur.

Comments welcome.