Despite the integration of Muslims in Ireland being a largely positive experience, there is "ample reason to be concerned" about those who exploit fear and stigmatise Muslims, it has been argued.
Ali Selim, secretary general of the Irish Council of Imams, told a conference on race and immigration in Ireland, which is being held at the University of Notre Dame, that unlike many European countries, Ireland was succeeding in integrating its Muslims by engaging with and involving them in national decision-making.
He cited as examples Irish solidarity with its Muslims in the wake of 9/11 and the Government's request for a submission from Muslim leaders on the constitutional amendment on the protection of children.
"Muslims have a sense of being part of the larger community in which they live, take part in all aspects of life and participate in the decision-making process," he said. He suggested that a number of factors worked in favour of the integration of Muslims, including an official and popular preparedness for pluralism and Muslim peoples' long history of co-existence.
The community's leaders in Ireland were also playing their part, by seeking to "keep the Muslim community an organically integrated part of the broader Irish society". Moreover, Ireland's Muslims are mostly skilled professionals who are well represented in the health service, catering and food industries, he added.
However, Mr Selim suggested there is "ample reason to be concerned" about those who propagate prejudice. "The question of immigration and integration has been used and abused; some voices have employed this question to attain personal interest," he said. "They create fear and then they endeavour to exploit it by perpetually accusing Muslims of not integrating and forming their own ghettoes."
The claim that those of the Islamic faith were not integrating was often based on "superficial" charges - that because many Muslims do not drink alcohol, they are at a remove from society, for instance.
Separately, Abel Ugba of the University of East London spoke of the growth of African-led Pentecostalism in Ireland. Since 1996, when the first such church is thought to have opened in Ireland, many immigrants have been drawn to it for spiritual and practical support. But these churches have become important markers of identity. "Pentecostalism is not what they do; it's what they are. It defines them," Dr Ugba said. Rather than being "ghettoes of exclusion", such churches could also be seen as "enclaves of solidarity" that offers immigrants a route into larger society.
Addressing the impact of immigration on religious adherence, Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times, said "massive change" was under way in Irish Catholicism. Although just over half of Ireland's foreign nationals are Catholic, the percentage share of Catholics in the population fell from 88.4 per cent in 2002 to 86.8 per cent last year. Catholic attendances in city parishes are falling and the average age of the Irish priest is now 63, McGarry said.
