Councillor calls for hoodie ban in Castlebar

OUT OUT OUT?Sign in a London pub window banning hoodies, baseball caps and tracksuit bottoms.

Councillor calls for hoodie ban in Castlebar


Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

A CASTLEBAR Town Councillor has suggested the introduction of a by-law to ban the use of hoodies in the town as a crime prevention measure.
The suggestion was made by Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne who raised the issue following the recent high-profile theft of a Brennan’s Bread van from outside Mulroy’s shop in Castlebar.
The CCTV footage of the incident showed two youths stealing the van but the footage was inconclusive in identifying the culprits because their faces were hidden by their hoodies. At last week’s Joint Policing Committee meeting, Cllr Kilcoyne suggested that a by-law banning hoodies should be introduced.
Supt Joe McKenna acknowledged that they were a disadvantage to gardaí, but he pointed out that a hat or scarf can also be used to hid a face. He added that he was the owner of three or four hoodies, and that he often puts the hood up.
Sergeant Naomi de Ris explained that there were few precedents for hoodie bans, apart from judges imposing a ban on the wearing of hoodies as part of bail conditions. She said a similar motion was discussed in Cork but never came to fruition.
Former district court judge John Neilan banned a group of men from wearing hoodies as part of their bail conditions in 2008. In a separate case, he threatened to jail a 23-year-old man for wearing a hoodie in court.

Idea ridiculed
Cllr Kilcoyne’s stance on hoodies and call for legislation has been the source of much mirth in the national press. A columnist in Saturday’s Independent ridiculed the ban idea, arguing that “Council chambers have increasingly become try-out rooms for ideas that would sit more comfortably in stand-up comedy than grown-up governance.”
As if to prove the point, comedy duo the RubberBandits likened the councillor to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a sarcasm-laden interview in The Sun. “In North Korea, the people live very happy, crime-free lives as a result of wearing clothing that are approved by the government. It’s time for Irish people to step up and make a change,” they said.
Kilcoyne is not the first to have suggested the ban, however.  In the UK, hoodies have been the subject of much criticism, and retailers there, as well as in New Zealand, have banned the wearing of hoodies. In June 2011, police in Wynnum, Brisbane launched a ‘Hoodie Free Zone’ initiative, with shopkeepers encouraged to ask hoodie-wearers to leave. The idea was to reduce armed robberies, in which the clothing was often being worn.

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