Co-existence is crucial to democracy, a national student conference was told yesterday.
Priscilla Sewpal Jana, South African ambassador to Ireland, said that valuing diversity in a positive way was "absolutely crucial" to a functioning democracy.
Ms Jana was speaking at the "Engaging with a transforming Ireland" conference in Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, organised by Céifin, a centre for values-led change.
She said education was central to promoting multiculturalism and that there was a need for co-existence programmes to be introduced in schools since racism results from a lack of understanding.
She said that Ubuntu, the African philosophy based on respect and understanding for others, could be used to help build a multicultural Ireland.
Ms Jana, who is of Indian descent, said the South African constitution had helped promote integration by enshrining the rights of a person to participate in the cultural life of their own choice.
In his address, Philip Watt, of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, said he was concerned by recent media coverage projecting the Irish Muslim community as extremist and said that Muslims had been living in Ireland since the 1950s.
Colm Markey, president of Macra na Feirme, said that to create a sustainable environment in rural Ireland that would attract young people to rural areas there had to be adequate social infrastructure in place in addition to job opportunities.
Highlighting that "you're less disadvantaged if you don't think you're disadvantaged", he presented five case studies where people had quit successful careers abroad and returned to Ireland to set up their own businesses in their local rural community. The majority fronted successful internet-based businesses and were able to work from home despite a lack of broadband facilities. He suggested that if these examples were followed, it might be possible to develop a diverse range of businesses around rural Ireland servicing the world from their own doorstep.
Colm Hamrogue, president of the Union of Students in Ireland, outlined the pressure students are under to succeed and cited an overhaul of the grants system and mental health as among the major issues facing students.
In a debate about active citizenship, David Burke, who recently gave up his job as a financial accountant to front a campaign to redirect €100 million in credit card taxes to charities, said the 40 per cent of the population under 25 needed to participate more actively in society to bring about change. It was important for young people to develop social capital, he said. People had lost sight of where Ireland used to be, when community was the central pillar of society.
Sally-Ann Flanagan, who was elected mayor of Tuam at the age of 22, told how she had been overwhelmed by the support of her local community after the death of her sister through a rare blood disease and was compelled to enter politics to give something back. She said the words of John F Kennedy, who said that "people ask why, I ask why not" could inspire young people to take a more active role in society.