`Racism in Ireland, North and South" was the theme of a major conference held yesterday in Dublin Castle. Marking the "European year against racism", the organisation was provided by the European Parliament Office in Ireland, the 1997 European Year Against Racism National Committee, the National Union of Journalists, and the Platform Against Racism.
At Parliament's rapporteur on racism, Arie Oostlande MEP, said the struggle against racism, xenophobia and anti-semitism
was from the start at the heart of the ideal of European federal development. He discussed the growth of racism in Europe in the 1980s, and the steps taken byt he EU institutions to combat it. "The fight against racism ... touches the core of what Europe is all about," he said.