Madam, - When working in Saudi Arabia for five years in the 1990s I was regularly upset at having to cover my head, at experiencing men and women being segregated into two rooms even at family gatherings, at not being able to travel with another man unless my husband was there, at not being allowed to drive. However I kept reminding myself that I chose to go to that country, and if I didn't like it I could leave. I certainly did not expect the Saudis to change their cultural practices to suit me.
Therefore I am very interested in the current debate on whether or not Muslim women ought to be allowed to cover their faces in public places. I feel the debate is not going deep enough into other Islamic practises which could, if we do not recognise them in time, more dramatically affect our present cultural practices in Ireland.
By this I mean the practice whereby Muslim women are not permitted to be in the same room as male strangers, even when their husbands are with them. I read with dismay in your newspaper earlier in the year that a school in Tallaght had arranged a special parent-teacher meeting for Muslim women who were uncomfortable in the same room as other men.
In their ignorance they believed they were integrating these people, but I feel that is a very dangerous step to take. What next? Separate waiting rooms in hospitals, doctors' clinics, dental clinics, etc?
If people want to live in Ireland I believe we should make them as welcome as our traditional customs and practises allow. If some groups are uncomfortable with these, let them move to a state where they are comfortable - just as I did when I returned home to Ireland. When in Rome, and all that! - Yours, etc,
JOAN BARRY, Iona Drive, Glasnevin, Dublin 11.