Dr Paulina Chiwangu, an Irish citizen, recently tried to give a lesson on interculturalism to immigration control officers at Cork airport. The lesson was simple: you don't have to be white to be an Irish citizen.
After arriving off a non-domestic flight, Paulina walked through the non-EU citizens channel, despite carrying an Irish passport. When the immigration official checked her passport, he asked her why she had not gone through the EU citizens channel. "I replied, `it doesn't make any difference because you will stop me anyway'," she says. "For them I am just a foreigner."
For the Tanzanian-born academic, the warm Irish welcome she received when she arrived 10 years ago has turned distinctly cold. This year, for the first time, she has been called a "nigger" by a stranger on the street.
"There has been a lot of misinformation in the asylum debate, and people think asylum-seekers are here just for the money," says Dr Chiwangu, who lectures on intercultural issues in Cork University.
"This has led to a lot of anger. I thank God I drive to work because to walk on the street of this country as a black person is a nightmare. You can't walk for an hour without being told, `you bloody black people, get back to your own country'."
Dr Chiwangu puts such racist behaviour down to the growing pains of a society coming to grips with what many view as a quite sudden transition from being largely "pure" to being multiethnic.
"Instead of always focusing on the treatment of asylum-seekers, we should be asking what we should be doing for Irish society itself in making this transition," she says.
While the Government has been grappling in public with its immigration policy in recent weeks and running fast just to stand still in providing basic support for asylum-seekers, this question has largely been overlooked.
At its most basic level, this transition means educating society about anti-racism, from the primary school classroom to the parish pump.
"We need to get away from the idea that racism is caused by incoming populations," says Ms Ronit Lentin, course co-ordinator of ethnic and racial studies in the Sociology Department of Trinity College Dublin.
"Incoming people do not cause racism. It exists already in the preconceived ideas of the majority community."
Mr Michael Lindenbauer, the UNHCR's liaison officer in Dublin, says the Government, churches, trade unions, voluntary and community groups all have a role in helping people make a switch from a largely monolithic society to an intercultural one.
"It's an enormous task, but we have the resources, and now we need leadership, information, changes to the educational system. Everything needs to shift gears," he says.
Representatives of ethnic minorities must play a part in future policy changes, says the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, which was set up last year and gives policy advice to the Government.
"Interculturalism is about changing outcomes, not just attitudes," says its director, Mr Phi lip Watt. "It's no good to say peo ple feel less racist, it's about how Government policy has a positive impact on minority groups. At the minute, the census doesn't assess ethnic minorities in Ireland, so how can we make provision or policies when we don't even know how many people there are?"
Research into the kinds of services asylum-seekers and refugees need is also fundamental, says Father Michael Begley from the Spiritan Asylum-Seekers Initiative (Spirasi), which offers practical help and support to immigrants.
"A lot of people are talking about refugee issues, but there is a dearth of research," he says.
Refugee lobby groups point out that this bottom-up approach is essential if inter-cultural policies are to succeed.
"The capacity of the minorities who are to be integrated needs to be strengthened," says Mr Dier Tong from the Association of Refugees and Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Ireland.
Arasi's office is based in a mews building donated by the Spiritans in north Dublin.
It received grants totalling £8,000 last year from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trocaire, but is completely reliant on volunteers for its self-help, outreach and lobbying work.
Visitors must pass through a reinforced steel door; the association recently received threatening phone calls that its offices and its "nigger" workers, would be burned down.
On an average day, Arasi receives up to 10 invitations from schools or communities for its members to talk about their experiences, according to Mr Tong, a Sudanese refugee.
"It's really difficult to meet these demands," he says. "The Government and other non-governmental organisations cannot fight racism alone. I welcome and acknowledge the role they are playing, but they can't do the work that we can do. They know Ireland, and we know our countries and if you can bring all these things together, you could do great work. But for our part now we can't play our role, because we are under-resourced."
An inter-departmental report on the integration of refugees is due to be published soon.
Anti-racism groups are concerned that plans to disperse asylum-seekers and replace cash welfare payments with some sort of in-kind provision will lead to further segregation.
"For example, will all Muslims have access to mosques?" asks Mr Watt from the NCCRI. "Will legal and advice services which are Dublin-based be available? Will any future food vouchers be valid for halal shops? The concern is that the Government is going against its own policy of integration and we are now moving towards segregation."