Friday, June 16, 2006

The Gardi and Ireland's Diversity


The upcoming campaign by the gardai to recruit ethnic minorities into the force is to be commended. It is about time a major State employer such as the gardai recognised the importance of reflecting Ireland's increasing diversity within its structures.Metro eireann hopes that other State employers, such as the Defence Forces, will follow suit sooner rather than later.It is also vital for the Public Appointments Service to target migrants with information about public jobs which are available. This does not mean giving them preference over native Irish people. It simply means recognising that application details and entry requirements will be more alien to those who have not grown up in Ireland.The time is right for the gardai to step up its anti-racism training at the garda training college in Templemore, Co Tipperary. Metro eireann understands that current anti-racism education for trainee gardai is a tiny fraction of their overall preparation for life in the force.Now that native gardai will be working alongside ethnic gardai, it is crucial that gardai are as informed as possible about different cultures – and this certainly includes educating ethnic gardai about Irish mannerisms, customs and even 'slang', which they will actually need to know in order to carry out some of their duties. At press time, metro eireann had not been informed of any plans to tailor training for minorities in areas where they may be lacking, nor has there been any indication yet that anti-racism training will be increased.The gardai must also plan for a number of issues which will stem from the recruitment of minorities. These issues will include uniform requirements for minorities such as members of the Sikh religion, updating and expanding its equality policy, and having a system in place which helps ensure racism doesn't play a part in promotion and deployment of ethnic officers.The gardai have taken an important step, and we will watchdevelopments with interest over the coming months and years.
The artcile was taken from www.metroeireann.com/