Almost nine out of 10 African asylum-seekers and refugees say they have experienced racism in Ireland, a new study shows.
Just under eight out of 10 said they had been refused a service and had problems integrating into Irish society, according to the report, "African Refugees Needs Analysis".
The study was commissioned by the African Refugee Network, an umbrella group supporting the integration of refugees and asylum-seekers.
Launching the research yesterday, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, said it made "depressing" reading. "It is a challenge to each and every one of us as a society as to how we react to people coming to our shores," he said.
Asylum-seekers are looking for refugee status on the basis that they are fleeing persecution on grounds including race, religion or political opinion.
Some 1,000 people have been granted refugee status in Ireland to date. There are about 2,000 to 2,500 African asylum-seekers and refugees in Ireland, mostly from Nigeria.
The study of 40 Africans found that people experienced racism most from landlords (72 per cent), security personnel, (60 per cent), welfare officials (42 per cent), and gardai (20 per cent).
Eleven people had experienced verbal abuse, 30 had been refused a service on the basis of their skin colour and four had been physically abused.
The report's recommendations include language classes for asylum-seekers, the simplification of the work permit scheme and strictly enforced anti-racist legislation.
It also calls for an amnesty for asylum-seekers currently living in the State, as recently happened in Belgium and Italy.
The African Refugee Network is also critical of the dispersal of newly arrived asylum-seekers outside Dublin without proper preparation of most host communities.
It said the recent replacement of cash welfare payments with provision in kind such as full board in hostels was in "stark opposition" to the Government's policy of integration.
"The network believes it is inhuman, discriminatory and economically unsound," its chair man, Mr Nasser Diaby, said.