When the number of refugees in the whole of Europe is about the same as the population of one refugee camp in Tanzania - a fact stated by a UN official to a Dail committee last week - one might wonder about the level of racist hysteria whipped up on these shores in recent months.
Much of this hysteria is based on misinformation, according to the Galway One World Centre.
It has been working with schools and youth groups to try to dispel myths surrounding the issue - "like the myth of inflated dole", Ms Vicky Donnelly, education worker at the centre, explains. Now it has linked up with Galway Simon Community to establish a support group for refugees and asylum-seekers. It is estimated there are 30 such households in Galway city.
"We will be looking at language services and other practical help, and we may approach the Western Health Board to see if it will get involved," Ms Donnelly says. "We will also be meeting with people themselves to see what resources they need."
Significantly, none of the 30 families attended last week's initial meeting in the One World Centre. "There is a lot of hostility out there, and people feel too vulnerable," she says. If that hostility reflects a latent intolerance in this society, the Irish commitment to development aid is still as strong as ever in several towns in the west. So says Mr Michael O'Donnell of the Westport/Aror (Kenya) Partnership, who points out that Westport has one of the highest subscription ratios per head of population, at £3 a person.
Established in 1982, the Westport/Aror (Kenya) Partnership has raised more than £160,000 locally for a community of some 18,000 living on the steep slopes of an escarpment in north-west Kenya, and has set up some 12 other partnerships in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.
The initial link was forged by the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), the order founded by an Irishwoman, Marie Helen Martin. The MMM has been in Aror since 1976.
Now a book, Letters from Africa, published by the partnership, charts the experiences of many Irish religious women working in Kenya and Tanzania over the last 15 years. Most of the letters come from Aror, and illustrate how effective development aid can be when dispensed through partnerships. Several of the letters have also been written by Africans, and reflect an eagerness to retain control over their own welfare, through this one-toone approach.
Illustrated with photographs, many taken by Westport-based Liam Lyons, the book is a record of many voices - of sisters, of volunteers, of donors, of beneficiaries. One such, from Sister Bridie Canavan in Aror Health Centre, gives an insight into an approach which is based on nurturing independence. Writing in June 1996, she describes treating a small boy who received a snake bite; constant rain; an increase in fallen trees due to a rise in the elephant population; the number of patients with cerebral malaria; and concern about dwindling funds.
"Trying to make people as self-reliant as possible, we do press for payment in full," she wrote. "Often it comes as a goat or a sheep which they are quite reluctant to part with . . . Even with our most vigorous efforts the fees only amount to 50 per cent of staff salaries. So you see how heavily we depend on you."