A patient at Tallaght Hospital reportedly refused to be treated by two Muslim doctors.

The female patient turned down the first doctor because she was wearing a traditional hijab. When the second doctor, who was also Muslim, entered the room, the woman then requested a “non-Muslim consultant.”

The incident came to light after the patient’s daughter allegedly wrote about her mother’s experience on social media, Herald.ie reports.

The daughter, identified as Cailín, defended her mother’s actions on RTE’s Liveline.

“It’s completely her choice,” she said.

“She’s perfectly entitled to do what she did. The HSE has guidelines that allow a Muslim to request that they be seen by a doctor who is the same sex as them, and if one cannot be provided it needs to be discussed with them.

“The same way there are reasons for my Mam to not want to be seen by that doctor when she doesn’t subscribe to her ideology,” said Cailín, according to TheJournal.ie.

Tallaght hospital confirmed that the woman had refused treatment from the doctors, but that treatment was eventually provided to the woman as the hospital has a duty of care to all patients.

"Tallaght Hospital cannot comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality," said a spokesman.

"However, our hospital's values emphasize respect, and the hospital's establishing charter guarantees the free profession and practice of religion by all associated with the hospital and in particular the members of staff.

"These values are upheld by all staff, and the hospital expects patients to respect these values of fairness and equity."

A spokeswoman for the Muslim Association of Ireland said she worried that acts carried out by terrorist groups were turning people against all Muslims.

"We do not know why this patient reacted the way she did, but we fear Muslims are facing racism from members of society who wrongly believe that such terror groups are acting in the name of Islam," said the spokeswoman.

"We are the first victims of these terror groups and then everyone turns against us because they think we are all the same and that the killings are done in our name.

"Sometimes these attitudes happen through ignorance, but it fuels racism.

"What I would say to this patient is read more about Islam and ask the doctors' colleagues about them before judging them."

On Twitter, Independent councillor Dermot Looney said that Muslim doctors do "amazing work" around Ireland and in Tallaght.