Successive governments have been aware of the "immense distress" of Ireland's Vietnamese community but have done nothing about it, a Good Friday ecumenical service in remembrance of torture victims was told.
Mr Declan Hughes, director of Rescue Trust, called for an all-party committee to investigate the problems facing the Vietnamese community. He challenged the Government to publish the Refugee Agency's annual reports. He said these would show a community with chronic problems, such as a low level of English which renders many Vietnamese "virtually unemployable".
Mr Hughes told the congregation in St Patrick's Cathedral that successive governments had left unresolved the issue of family reunification. "Families remain split asunder to this day, while politicians, officials, journalists and NGOs remain silent."
Ms Camilla Dorcey, of the Irish Black and Migrant Women group, said black women in Ireland were marginalised. Irish people "pride themselves" as the most friendly and charitable in the world, "but when you live here, it's a different story". Ms Dorcey said she had been subjected to unprovoked attacks, such as people shouting "nigger" and other obscenities.
"If I had known what it is like to come to this country, I would never have done so in the first place," said Ms Dorcey, who has lived here for almost 30 years.
Ms Olive Braiden, director of the Rape Crisis Centre, said the crime of mass rape was not the preserve of Third World countries but was committed in "supposedly civilised" European countries.