No directive for schools on use of Islamic scarf

THE GOVERNMENT has decided not to issue a directive to schools on the wearing of the Islamic hijab headscarf by pupils, Minister of State for Integration Conor Lenihan has indicated.
However, it will provide general guidelines on how such matters might be handled. A statement on the matter is to be made by Mr Lenihan next week.
Speaking at the Parnell summer school in Avondale, Co Wicklow, yesterday, he said over 4,000 school principals had been consulted on the issue "and we received lots and lots of e-mails". "The overwhelming evidence is that it [the hijab] is not an issue in schools," he said. This also applied to "other forms of clothing".
Mr Lenihan wrote to the school principals in June to seek their views on the issue, after being asked by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe to examine whether national guidelines were required on the wearing of "certain types of clothing for religious reasons at school".
The previous month a school principal in Gorey, Co Wexford, had called on the Minister for Education to issue guidelines on the wearing of the hijab in State schools.
This followed the department's refusal to offer advice to the school when a Muslim couple asked last September that their daughter be allowed to wear the hijab in class. Mr Lenihan said yesterday that many principals had "expressed surprise it had become an issue at all".
"There are no examples of schools where it has been an issue. But there are plenty examples of where it has been accommodated," he said.
His statement next week would "reflect that ethos", he said.
Mr Lenihan said he would not see why, "if things are going well locally, there was a need for regulatory zeal or over-regulation in an area which appears regulated at the moment. I am not keen on over-regulation."
The principal who raised the issue in May, Nicholas Sweetman of Gorey Community School, said official direction would bring an end to the practice of schools imposing divergent policies and would clarify the issue for schools and Muslim parents.
Correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the school wrote to then minister for education Mary Hanafin last October, when a Muslim couple asked that their child be allowed wear the hijab in class. Though this contravened rules on uniforms, the principal agreed, pending approval by the board of management. The school, where 85 out of some 1,500 students come from a foreign background, later decided to continue to allow the pupil to wear her hijab.

PATSY McGARRY
© 2008 The Irish Times

Beijing 2008 Olympics oppening day takes the breath away

Friday 8th Aug 2008.

Despite all the effort of politicizing the Olympics in Beijing. The Chinese bit their tongue and got on with it.

Dazzling Fireworks

Friendship welcome

D.C .C trying to involve ethnic minority in the coming Council elections المجلس البلدي يشرك الاجانب في انتخابات البلدية

The meeting took place in the Dublin City Council fancy Building. It is a good idea that the council will involve people from different ethnic backgrounds in the coming council elections. The meeting was discussing the way to make people aware of the election and participate in it.
لقد اجتمع ممثلو الجاليات في مبني بلدية دبلن الجميل. انها فكرة رائعة ان يسعى المجلس البلدي بان يشرك الاجانب في انتخابات البلدية. وكانت المقابلة تناقش كيفية رفع وعي المواطن الغير ايرلندي بان يشارك في الانتخابات والتصويت .





You don't need to be an Irish passport holder to vote. You can be a foreigner who came to the country for any reason but you should have 6 month stay before you are eligible to do so.
لا تحتاج الى ان تكون حائزا على جواز السفر الايرلندي حتى يكون حق التصويت. ممكن ان تكون اجنبيا ولكن يجب ان يكون لك ستة اشهر اقامة في البلد قبل ان يكون حق التصويت.

There will be posters posted every where inviting every one to vote and have a say in the elections.
سوف تكون هناك ملصقات تعلق في الا ماكن العامة للتعريف بهذه الانتخابات وتدعوكم للمشاركة انشاء الله

Report by Dr. Bashir

The regulation does not prohibit wearing of the head scarf (Hijab) ان الحجاب ليس محرما في المدارس

Minister Batt O Keeff

Minister of Education and science

We the Muslim Community Lobby of Ireland would like to express thanks to all those who helped to diffuse and depoliticise the Hijab issue.
لوبي الجالية الاسلامية في ايرلندا يشكر جميع من حاول اخراج مشكلة الحجاب من الداشرة السياسية الى الدائرة المدرسية.
Muslim parents are a bit nervous about the situation that their daughters have been put in. Therefore we approached the Ministry of Education and science to have the final say and the sent the following peace of regulation. The regulation does not prohibit wearing of the head scarf (Hijab), which is good, but it leaves it to the decision of the board of governors of the school. These regulations are the same as those given to the Wexford school. so far ministry of Education still use these regulations.
آباء وامهات المسملين في ايرلندا قلقين على ما آلت اليه مسألة ولهذا طلبنا من وزارة التعليم بان توضح الامر وقد ردت بهذا القانون الذي هو يبين ان الحجاب ليس محرما في المدارس وان امناء المدرسة لهم الحق في التدخل في اللبس المدرسي وهو ليس من شان وزارة التعليم في شئ. وان هذه هي اللائحة التي اعطيت لمدير المدرسة في وكسفورد حيث ان وزارة التعليم الايرلندية ليس لديها لائحة اخرى.

In relation to the matter of wearing the hijab in class, the position is as follows:

Section 15(2)(b) of the Education Act 1998 charges Boards of Management with a duty to "uphold, and be accountable to the patron for so upholding, the characteristic spirit of the school as determined by the cultural, educational, moral, religious, social, linguistic and spiritual values and traditions which inform and are characteristic of the objectives and conduct of the school…".
لائحة 15 (2)ب القانون يتحدث عن ان ادارة المدرسة يجب ان تعنى بالمحافظة على الروح التربوية, الثقافية, الاخلاقيه, الدينية, الاجتماعية واللغوية والوحانية والعادات والتقاليد التي تتميز بها المدرسة.

Section 15(2)(e) of the Act balances this with the requirement for a Board of Management to "have regard to the principles and requirements of a democratic society and have respect and promote respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions languages and ways of life in society".
15(2)(e)
وانه يجب على الادارة بان توازن بين " مبادئ ومطالب المجتمع الديمقراطي يجب ان يبعث على الاحترام ويحترم اختلاف القيم والمعتقد والعادات واللغات وتعدد طرق الحياة في المجتمع."

Individual school authorities are responsible for the drawing up of school rules including requirements in relation to the wearing of school uniforms. In addition, some schools may have a dress code which usually deals with such matters as hair styles and the wearing of jewellery and rings.
وبهذا لادارت المدارس الحق في اختيار ما يتناسب من لبس والمحافظة على اللبس المدرسي وتحديد بعض الاشياء مثل تسريحة الشعر ولبس الخواتم والجواهر في المدرسة.

It is a matter for the Board of Management to decide on a schools policy in relation to the above issue, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to direct or advise a school in relation to any aspect of its policy on dress code.
I hope this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Carol Slevin

on behlf of the Education and Science Ministry

Policy U-turn on hijab in Irish schools تراجع وزارة التعليم الايرلندية بالنسبة للحجاب

The Department of Education outlined its policy on students wearing hijab in a letter to a Dublin school as long ago as 2005. It told a Dublin teacher that she should allow a student to wear the hijab, a Muslim headscarf covering the head but not the face, during PE.
وزارة التعليم الايرلندية تظهر
قرارها الصادر في سنة الفين وخمسة بالسماح للحجاب غطاء الراس في المدارس الايرلندية بدون نقاب او غطاء الوجه
The clearly defined policy contrasts with the lack of guidance given to a principal in Gorey Community School last year when the same issue arose. He was told that it was up to the school’s board of management to decide whether pupils could wear Muslim headdress.
المشكلة ان وزارة التعليم لم تعلم مدير المدرسة بوكسفورد بهذا القرار الذي اتخذ سابقا في الالفين وخمسة
The advice issued in 2005 is contained in a letter released under the Freedom of Information Act. Brian Hayes, Fine Gael’s education spokesman, said it showed that the department had shifted opinion on the wearing of the hijab since first issuing advice three years ago. “It shows that instead of drawing up clear guidelines and sticking to them, the department has just confused its position in the intervening period,” he said. Responding last week the education department said it has asked Conor Lenihan, the integration minister, to address the wearing of religious clothing in a new policy document, the Intercultural Education Strategy. In 2005, Matthew Ryan, the principal officer in the department’s post-primary administration section, issued a clear directive to Our Lady’s Grove in Goatstown. In a letter he stated: “Where a school admits a person of a religious denomination but then seeks to impose a dress code requirement which runs contrary to that student’s religious beliefs, it may constitute unlawful discrimination against that student.” The letter states that the Equal Status Act 2000 prohibits a school from discriminating against a student on religious grounds. “It follows that this department would expect schools to allow students of that denomination \ to wear the hijab and indeed it is our understanding that this approach is being followed by schools,” the department wrote at the time. Liam Egan, the father of the girl from Gorey Community School whose wearing of the hijab prompted her principal to seek advice from the department, said that equality legislation had not changed since 2005. “The law has not changed, so why has the department changed its position? Since 7/7, this has become more of a political issue. My daughter wore the hijab all through her first year in school and it was not contentious. Then, at the end of the year, it suddenly became an issue,” he said. Egan has helped set up the Irish Hijab Campaign to lobby for the right of female Muslim students to wear the hijab. The group says that pupils have worn the hijab “for years” without any problem and that the argument that the next step is the wearing of the niqab — a headdress revealing only the eyes — or burqa — a garment covering the whole body — is alarmist. “Not one single child in Ireland wears a niqab or burqa,” he said. “The people who raise that issue want to provoke fear and suspicion.” Egan said that more than one-third of all Muslims in Ireland were now native Irish. “This is not an immigrant issue. It’s about freedom to practice religious beliefs. People say we should assimilate, but I was born in Wexford — I am Irish and Muslim. We should not follow the lead of France, where there is no tolerance.” Source: Sunday Times

The Irish Socialist Workers Party solidarity with Muslims in their Hijab Campaign

The Muslim Community Lobby (MCL) would like to express our thanks for the positive stance taken by the Irish Socialist Workers Party. MCL would like to see a positive stance or press release by the other political parties as well.

The Irish Socialist Workers party is looking for new members an opportunity for those who would like to engage in politics.

نشكر حزب العمال الاشتراكي الايرلندي على اتخاذه موقف ايجابي ازاء قضية الحجاب في المدارس ونهيب بمن له الميول السياسي من العرب والمسلمين بان يشتركوا في هذا الحزب حتى يكونوا دوما معنا على الخط وجزاء لموقفهم الشجاع .

Public Meeting on the Hijab, Racism and Education

Saturday 26th July 4pmWynn's Hotel, Lower Abbey St

Speakers: Sinead Kennedy (SWP)

and speaker from Islamic Cultural Centre

A Community school in Wexford recently became the focus of a debate about the headscarf or hijab,that muslim women wear.

حدث الامر في مدرسة في وكسفورد بجنوب شرق ايرلندا. وكانت بنت مسلمة اسمها شكينا وتبلغ من العمر اربعة اعشرة سنة, من اب ايرلندي ابيض اسلم حديتا اسمه لييم أييقن وام بريطانية سمراء اسمها بفرلي ماكنزي اسلمت حديثا. وقد طرح مدير المدرسة نيكولاس سوييتمان على امناء المدرسة موضوع منعها من لبس الحجاب غطاء الراس, والزامها بالزي المدرسي الايرلندي. فكان رد امناء المدرسة بعدم التعرض لها وتركها تلبس الحجاب مع الزي المدرسي. فلم يقنع مدير المدرسة بجواب الامناء, واثار الموضوع مع وزارة التعليم الايرلندية التي بدورها احالتها الى اعضاء البرلمان. ومن هنا اصبحت مشلكة الحجاب تاخذ شكلها الحالي.

14-year-old Shekinah Egan's parents requested that she be allowed to wear the hijab to school in Gorey, Co. Wexford.

Her school board of management granted permission but the principal referred the question to the Department of Education, which refused to provide the guidance sought.

Nicolas Sweetman, Principal of the school, has called for the Department of Education to issue an official policy for schools.While the Department of Education has said very little politicians such as Chris Andrews of Fianna Fail and Labour Party spokesperson on Education and Science Ruairi Quinn have both said that headscarves should not be worn in state schools.

Ruairi Quinn's statement was particularly obnoxious as he also claims to be a socialist - even of a very mild sort.He said that 'If people want to come into a western society that is Christian and secular, they need to conform to the rules and regulations of the country.

روري كوين عضو برلماني متطرف سياسي يساري يقول انه يحمل افكارا اشتراكية , وبهذا يريد حزب العمال الاشتراكي بان يوضح الفكرة الاشتراكية بان يكون مبتعدا تماما عن اقوال روري كوين المتطرف وامثاله مثل كرس اندرو من الحزب الحاكم الفينا فيول. ومن المعروف ان الحزب الحاكم له راي في ان لا يلغى الحجاب من المدارس ويجب ان يكون مصاحبا باللون وشكل الزي المدرسي.

'Quinn is obviously contradictory when he says that a country can be both 'Christina and secular'. But his main point was that migrants coming into Ireland must conform to 'our' way of life.

Yet there is no single national culture which has existed from all time. Irish national culture has been changed and transformed by successive waves of migrants, by interactions with, and opposition to, empire; and by the long Irish tradition of migration itself.

Today we live in a global multi-cultural world where the main problem we face is racism - the attempt to put down and discriminate against people through all sorts of cultural codes.The reactions of Ruairi Quinn and Chris Andrews is in stark contrast to an Irish Times /TNS MRBI poll in which almost half of people surveyed feel the wearing of hijabs or headscarves by Muslim students should be allowed in State schools.

وبما اننا نعيش في عالم متعدد الثقافات والعادات والاديان فانه يجب ان لا نتخذ قرارات تثري العنصرية في البلد وان جريدة الايرش تاميز قد اعلنت عن استبيان تبين فيه بان الحجاب لا يجب ان يلغى من المدارس.

This debate has to be seen in the wider context of what is happening in the rest of Europe as young muslim women are being targeted in the post-9/11 so-called war on terror.

وان هذ النقاش يبين ماذا حدث بعد احداث سبتمر ومن اسوأ الاشياء ان تكون المراة هي التى تتحمل عبأ المشكلة

The Dutch government have banned muslim women from wearing the Burqa (full facial veil) in public places.

الحكومة الهولندية قد منعت لبس البرقة او النقاب غطاء الوجه في الاماكن العامة

Some German states ban teachers from wearing headscarves in public schools and is an on-going issue in Britain.

الحكومة الالمانية منعت لبس الحجاب غطاء الراس في المدارس الحكومية وهناك نقاش بمنعه في بريطانيا

It is a worrying that Ireland's politicians are following Europe's islamo-scaremongering just as the economy is facing a recession and cuts in public spending.

انه لمن المثير للذعر بان نرى السياسيين الاروبيين يثيرون الذعر والخوف من الاسلام فوبيا وان المراة المسلمة تتحمل العبئ في حين ان الاقتصاد يتدهور وتقطع الميزانية

Migrants will be among the first to find themselves victims of these cuts. It is no coincidence that the Dept of Education has pulled the funding for the Integrate Ireland Language Teaching which provides English classes.

وبهذا فقد اغلقت وزارة التعليم مدارس اللغة للاجئيين والمهاجرين في كل البلد ومنعت دعمها ماليا مع انها كانت ذات فائدة كبيرة انظر هذا الرابط

Link Demonstration and protest against the closure of schools in front of the 'Dail' 3th July 2008

The Socialist Workers Party are opposed to islamophobia and any ban on the hijab.

وبهذا يعارض حزب العمال الاشتراكي الايرلندي اي اسلاموفوبيا او منعا للحجاب

وبهذا نشكر حزب العمال الاشتراكي الايرلندي لتوضيحة الرؤية ونرجوا من الجميع الاتصال بهم وشكرهم

Socialist Workers PartySocialist Workers PartyAddress: PO Box 1648, Dublin, Co. DublinContact: Phone: 01 8722682 Fax: 01 8723838Email: info@swp.ieWebsite: http://www.swp.ie/

A well respected prominent figure of the muslim community in Ireland Irish Muslim Convert Mrs. Asiya Al Tawash defending the Hijab and women choice.

الاخت اسيا الطواش حديثة العهد بالاسلام لها مكانة مرموقة في الجالية الاسلامية الايرلندية تدافع عن الحجاب وتؤكد على حق المراة في ارتداء الحجاب وخاصة في المدارس

Asiya Al Tawash said: "Ruiary Quin!!! what happened to Ruiary Quinn?" She insists that multiculturalism is the way forward and to keep the muslim woman identity contrary to what Ruiary and others think or say.

أسيا الطواش تثري فكرة التقاء الثقافات والحضارات على اسس ثقافية وحضارية لتعميم الفائدة وليس الاندماج الكلي الذي يطمس شخصية المراة المسلمة

Beverley Mckenzie, (British muslim convert) and Mother of Shekinah Egan answering quetions

Beverly Mckenzei Chairwoman of the Hijab committee and Lorraine O'Connor (Irish muslim convert) talking about the Hijab committee

Beverley Mckenzie spoke of Brian hayes (TD) distening himself from being opposing the Hijab in school after a telephone conversation with Brian.

بفرلي قالت ان "براين هييز تراجع في اقواله بمنع الحجاب من المدارس في حديث هاتفي معه"

واقول: الامر يبقى معلقا حتى نرى تحركا ايجابيا منه

Sinead Kennedy is a member of The Irish Socialist Workers Party showing solidarity with Muslims in their Hijab Campaign. Sinead Kennedy has written on culture and politics, women and the Celtic Tiger. She is a long standing campaigner against war and for women’s rights.

شينيد كندي المتحدثة باسم حزب العمال الاشتراكي الايرلندي تدفع بحملة الحجاب الى الامام وتعارض اقوال معارضي الحجاب

Sinead Kennedy 2

She tried to clarify the long standing comment by Karl Heinrich Marx saying "Religion is the opium of the people" that it did not mean what it says, click on the video.

شينيد تعقب على مقولة ماركس "الدين افيون الشعوب " بانها لا تعني ما تحمله الكلمات من معاني وانما تعني ذلك لمن يريدالتكاسل

She was thorough and spoke so well of the events happening with regard to migrants and multicultural ideas, the Hijab and Islamo phobia .

Irish born Liam Egan new Muslim Convert father of Shekinah.

He said:" There is a real person under that Hijab who should be respected for what she wants to do."

It couldn't be expressed better, thanks Liam. المسلم الايرلندي لييم أيقن, ابو شكينا, قال: "انه بداخل الحجاب امراة لابد من احترامها ودعها تفعل ما ارادت بدلا من اتخاذ القرار نيابة عنها"

واقول انها كلمة صائبة من مجمع الكلم يا لييم

School days' colleague talking about Ruiary Quinn احد زملاء روري كوين يتهجم على ارائه ويفندها

The rest of the videos are questions by the audience اسئلة للمتحدثين من الحضور

Attack on Saudi Arabia and Hijab تهجم على السعودية والحجاب من اسياوي

Video and report by Bashir

InIntegrating Ireland AGM

The Meeting took place on Friday 11th July 2008
Whitefriar Carmelite Community Centre, Gymnasium 2nd floor,
Aungier Street , Dublin 2

Introduction to Integrating Ireland By Aki Stavrou

Introduction to Volunteering Ireland by Chiara Magini