G ardai in Kerry have been warned they are not in a “Conor McGregor, ZZ Top or Grizzly Adams lookalike competition” in a crackdown on grooming rule breaches.
An email to officers in the Kingdom warned against turning up for duty with designer stubble or “unkempt, overly long and not neatly trimmed” beards.
It follows a decision by Commissioner Drew Harris in July to allow officers to sport facial hair other than moustaches.
However, the email claimed said some cops based in the southwest are displaying bare-faced cheek in regard to the new rules.
It declared: “All members are reminded about the recent directive concerning beards and the growing of them and conditions attached.
“It has been noted that members are taking the interpretation of the beard policy to extend to being unshaven and sporting beards that are somewhat unkempt, overly long and not neatly trimmed as required.
“There is no Conor McGregor, ZZ Top or Grizzly Adams lookalike competition on.
“Members are not to present for duty unshaven - it is either established beard or clean shaven. This is quite clear in the directive.”
The concession by Mr Harris came after two decades of campaigning by the Garda Representative Association.
It is also thought to have been influenced by attempts to get more ethnic minorities to join.
The issue was raised as far back as 2001 by Garda whistleblower John Wilson, who was confined to indoor duties for breaching regulations by letting his facial hair grow because of a skin condition.
But even after exemptions for medical reasons were brought in, a motion was passed at the 2017 GRA annual conference calling for all cops to be allowed bare bristles.
One GRA member who addressed the meeting declared: “It is a human right I think to allow us be natural. Beards can reduce skin cancer, help reduce asthma and allergies.
“They help you keep young looking. They reduce infections and you end up with blemish-free skin and a beard is a natural moisturiser.”
But while there was relaxation on facial hair front, cops remain banned from wearing jeans or runners even if in plainclothes. Face and neck tattoos also remain.
