The decision to send home three recruits at the Garda training college in Templemore with tattoos as “complicated and nuanced”, the president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) Brendan O'Connor has said.
Speaking to RTÉ radio's Today show, he added the move was applying a “subjective interpretation” to what was essentially self-expression.
Mr O’Connor acknowledged the decision was “a little bit conservative” and said the force needed to be more inclusive and to “reach out beyond” where the force has traditionally been when it comes to recruits.
Tattoos were now more socially acceptable and the decision to send home recruits because of tattoos did raise “some questions,” he said.
He added that tattoos were now “very much part of the younger culture”, so the decision was “an ultra conservative view of something that is very much part of the norm”.
“It does seem that perhaps this policy is slightly out of step and is robbing the organisation of three people with the potential to be excellent guards and serve the community well,” Mr O'Connor said.
At a time when the force needed to be modernised and efforts were being made to broaden the scope of recruits, this decision did not make any sense, he said.
Mr O’Connor said such a decision would be understandable if the tattoos were offensive to a particular religious group or made a political comment.
He confirmed the GRA will be seeking a review of the policy, adding: “Something that's more agile and more reflective of the wider social values of our very modern, tolerant and inclusive society should be reflected in the Gardaí, not the conservatism of previous generations.”
