The same thing happens here in america. What I find most intriguing is that I can walk through Tacoma, WA or Compton, CA in the day or night and nothing has ever happened to me and the majority people in Compton are black. It is a white thing and I have no ideal why white people are so inherantly afraid of every other race, especially blacks. Our media doesn't help the situation because all they show is blacks being arrested and without knowing those watching the media are subconsciously duped into thinking blacks are going to rape, steal or kill you and this is just not the case. White's in their fear of blacks move to the suburbs and raise hell if a black person comes to lower their property value by moving in. These are people just like us who have children that they love just like us. Their culture is different that is all.

We are all human and love our family and friends. All around the world we are the same way. Unfortuneately the rich elite and our governments decide for us who will hate us and who will like us. We the people of the world need to stand firm against the rich and our governments and put a stop too all of this craziness. The only question now is how?

I spent two summers working in DC and I was struck by how segregated it was. Some parts of Belfast have walls to keep Protestant and Catholic apart but I think in some ways America was worse. On the surface blacks and whites worked together and were civil to each other but there didn't seem to be any social mixing. In many parts of Northern Ireland people mix across the "sectarian divide". We've been killing each other for centuries so at least we can't pretend we don't have a problem.

Racism is rife both in the North and South of Ireland. I am a black man and have lived in Southern Ireland during the late1990s, a period when the debate on asylum seekers and refugees had reached its climax. I am married to an Irish national and because of racism we had to return to the UK from whence we came. I find the irish far more racist than others white.In Irish racism there is throw back to medieval times. The Irish are masters at convincing blacks that "we are all in the same boat in Britain" and many blacks do believe this. You can say this nonsense when you have to co-exist with blacks in another person`s country.The reality is having many blacks as your neighbours in cork,limerick,Dublin and Galway. Having to face this, the Irish resorted to same offensive negative stereotypes used by the British against them(the Irish) How diappointing?I find the Irish as the most racially intolerant whites I have ever met.

I actually have to agree with the previous statement, and I'm actually Irish.

I am very surprised and disappointed in the obvious racism I see in people In know in Ireland. I find that the problem is particularly acute among Irish people who have never travelled, lived or worked abroad. I think part of the problem is that Ireland has no history of minority cultures. Until recently there was no emigration. Because of this there is no experience and peopel have grown up without experience and education about racism. History in school focuses on British emigrants forcibly removing Irish people from most of their land and repressing them. It's history though and the sooner the culture changes the better.

In the last few years I think things have been greatly improving. The return of large numbers of Irish people from abroad with the far more tolerant attitudes is helping. Anyone who was in Ireland last summer for the mentally diabled Olympics would have been proud of the love and tolerance in the country. Each town in the country was given the athlethes from a country to host ,and the entire town would come out in support of the team. Even more important was that the schools would teach all about the country and get guest speakers and foreign kids in to visit. The local restaurants would cook the foods, many towns had parades, Foreign flags fraped from every window. My town was host to Pakistan and listening to my 8 year old neighbour going on about all the great things in Pakistan and the Pakistan kids he was meeting was heart warming. Seeing the local school kids waving the Pakistan flags while supporting the team was also an amazing sight.

Part of the problem at the moment is that the media always focus on asylum seekers. In general there is the perception that asylum seekers are a drain on the states resopurces and are often milking the system. Even worse is the belief that many asylum seekers are linked to gangs and crime. Therefore many Irish people associate any foreigner with an asylum seeker, irrespective of what they do or who they are.

What needs to happen is that the Irish media and government need to start focussing on the good as well as the occasional bad. Irish people need to become aware of the benefits a multi-cultural society can have. From the media side this could be achieved through articles on various ethnic people and what they do, their cultures, their hopes, their dreams. From the government side much of the false fears could be removed through the publication of total tax revenues from minorities, benefits achieved, total costs. More events like the special Olympics will greatly help Irish people to overcome their fears.

Irish people have gained immersureably from the kindness of other cultures towards them when they immigrated. It's about time they returned the favour.

Paul.

I wonder if Irish racisim could be linked to "the troubles" and the centuries long conflict with Britain. Israel with its mentality of being victims of the holocaust tend to be very racist against Arabs. Being a victim can make you less compassionate rather than more. Just guessing.
Sherye

In the case of most people I know in Ireland it's a persecution complex. They feeel persecuted not because they were/are but because their ancestors were. Not an excuse in the slightest and they need to get over it.

Interesting point though and possibly very true.

Paul.

I must commend the honest contribution of solitair. It is interesting that I never had any problems whilse holidaying in Ireland.The reality became clear when I made known my intention to live there permanently in 1997.While I was there I read several Irish newspapers and listened to RTE radio and television about the immigration debates.Spanning the period,1997-2001 when I lived there I can say that in a million years, here in Britain, your average white Britain can`t make such crude statements as the Irish have made about blacks and get away with it. The intolerance in that most intolerant country on the planet even impacts on white irish catholics in catholic Republic of Ireland.My irish-born wife has lived in Britain for over 20 years, with this the natural erosion of the accent is inevitable. I have lost count of the number of times she had been asked" What country are you from?" Echoing the Britain of the 1960s there are Irish landlords who have refused to rent their houses to blacks.If you are Nigerian in Cork, Dublin,Galway and Limerick don`t approach any bank to open an account . If you are lucky to open a bank account in ireland don`t expect credit card or overdraft facilities.Of course, some nigerians have behaved very noughty in ireland but so do other races in other countries. Then there is the unwanted stares, the quizzical curiousity, the Irish father chiding his daughter to keep away from the black man.There is the conflict in the family over the daughter or sister who has got pregnant for her black boyfriend. There are employers who as a matter of routine don`t employ blacks. There is your racial bullying at work. There is the racial abuse and taunts faced by black children at schools. My son was told by his 8 year old peers that I was a drug dealer. He was also called nigger many times.You see,Ireland made me reflect on what I had achieved in Britain over a very short span of time.Now I will never take this for granted. Irish people are begrugers, and I know that as a blackman I have to be greatful for the opportunities in Britain.I could never have achieved these things in Ireland. I am sure to many white irish nationals the contents of this letter ring a bell. I have travelled to almost all European countries and I can tell all British blacks, some of whom continue to put down this country that if one is black, Britain is the best country in which to live. Ireland is yet to produce an outstanding Irish-born black person who is not a Singer or a footballer. With the current situation, this will be a very long way off.

Africanus, I'm very saddened by your experiences and can only hope that a long way of f comes soon. As an interesting aside let me post this article from the BBC on Irelands newer attitude to emigration.

"Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney has said she expects most of her country's labour needs will be met by workers from new EU member states.
She said they will be treated like any other EU nationals, not need permits and have minimum wage guarantees. Most of the existing 15 EU members fear an influx of cheap labour when 10 more countries join the union on 1 May. Germany and Austria pushed for work bans of up to seven years on the newcomers - many others followed suit.

Mary Harney says new workers will benefit both sides But Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, will fully open its labour markets from 1 May, together with the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Ms Harney said they would not put up any administrative obstacles.

"We believe that under our labour legislation, every worker should be treated equally, there should be no discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race or whatever and that will continue to be the case," she told the BBC.

Ms Harney, who is also Ireland's minister for employment, said the workers would all be entitled to a minimum wage of seven euros an hour at the least. There are already some 100,000 foreigners working in Ireland, a country of only four million people. Half of them come from the rest of the EU, but at least 20,000 come from Central Europe and the Baltic countries. They mainly work in hotels, restaurants, the meat industry and agriculture.

But, like all EU countries, Ireland also reserves the right to introduce restrictions on the free movement of workers from Central Europe if serious disturbances of its labour market occur. But Ms Harney said they were not afraid that Ireland could be swamped after the expansion of the EU.

"It is a vote of confidence in the enlargement," she said.
"It is giving people from those countries the opportunities we had in the past as a nation of emigrants in search of work."
She said the Irish economy needed skilled labour, and the exchange would also benefit those countries' citizens.

They could gain experience and resources to take back home, like the Irish citizens once did in Germany and the UK.
In fact, Central European workers may be tempted to go back after a few years working in Ireland, simply because living there is by no means cheap.
For poorer countries with high rates of unemployment like Poland or Slovakia, Ireland could provide a model of how to make the best of EU membership
That is the downside of a booming economy which has turned Ireland into the second richest country in the EU after Luxembourg. "


Some very positive quotes. i just hope Irish people in general begin to follow the lead of the government.

Paul.