Sikhs have been living in Ireland for over 20 years, to the point where their community now stands at around 2,000 people.
As far back as 1987, drawing from voluntary subscriptions, Sikhs raised money to build their own temple in the heart of Dublin 4, near the RDS, in what for most urbanites in Dublin would be a very desirable address. The temple’s location would be best known to older theatregoers as being the site of the old Oscar theatre, so beloved of many down the years.
Most of the Sikh community is drawn, but not exclusively, from India’s Punjab, and Sikhs have a very proud history dating back the centuries in Indian life. While there are many reasons why adherents wear their distinctive turban, in purely historical terms it dates back to an edict by the ruling Moghul elite in India, insisting that only those of the influential class could wear the headgear. Not unnaturally, one of their gurus made the point that all were equal before God, and hence the wearing of the turban became emblematic of a democratic and egalitarian spirit running through Punjabi society. Given its importance as a symbol, it is easy to understand why the community reacted so negatively to the decision by the Garda Commissioner not to allow it for serving members of the force. That said, not all Sikhs wear the turban and quite a good many, even among those worshiping at their Dublin temple, forego this particular religious ordinance. This is not intended in any way to mitigate its importance as a religious symbol. Last weekend I fulfilled a long-standing invitation to attend the temple for their ceremony of martyrdom which, all told, was a very pleasant liturgy.
The tradition is that members of the community come for the ceremony and later sit down on the ground for a Punjabi-style meal. The temple is open all week and people are free to come along and participate. All of the food is provided by the community, and the religious teachers are for the most part drawn from people who hold down regular jobs and perform their religious duties on a voluntary basis. Given the duration that the Sikhs have been in Ireland, a good many of the community are quite successful in the world of medicine, business and of course as IT professionals in Irish as well as international software companies based here. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, members of the Sikh community have complained that they have been the target of a significant level of abuse in public settings, because of the confusion in some people’s minds that they are Muslim extremists. This ignorance of their culture and tradition points up the need to educate and involve Irish people more in the positive understanding of the diverse cultures that exist in Ireland today.
Equally, with regard to the hijab debate in the schools, there is a pressing need to have honest discussion about the issues involved and not to become strung out on endless debates about the external manifestations of religious diversity. These discussions, around both the hijab and the turban, while at one level unavoidable, need to be kept in perspective. There is little or no point in pandering to the sometimes phobic anxieties that diversity throws up.
The real challenge of integration is a much deeper debate around citizenship, participation in our society and the acceptance of the basic concept of equality in a republic, such as our Irish democracy is. Ihave received volumes of e-mails, letters and viewpoints from the public on the hijab issue and there is strong strain of common sense running through all of the submissions sent by teachers and other interested observers. Notwithstanding the fact that immigration did play a role in the Lisbon ‘no’ vote, there is still a strong public desire to see increasing diversity managed in a sensitive manner, as distinct to those who would prefer to isolate migrants by an overly prescriptive form of assimilation.
Conor Lenihan TD is Minister for Integration and represents the constituency of Dublin South West, which includes Tallaght, Greenhills, Firhouse, Templeogue and Bohernabreena
