President Mary McAleese yesterday said she hoped Irish people would make the country a place of real welcome for those of the Islamic faith who come to make new lives here.
Speaking at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, she said our history meant Irish people were well-placed to understand how difficult it can be to feel like an outsider in society.
She said: "You will know from the history of Ireland that, historically, we have not been good at bridging the gaps between people of different Christian faiths on this island. Only in very recent times have we begun to come to terms with our own failure to deal with sectarianism and stereotyping, and so, I sincerely hope in learning those lessons, we would never inflict them on anyone else.
"Your being here helps us and keeps challenging us to find ways to be joyfully curious about each other." Mrs McAleese said Irish people had "centuries of experience" of being the outsider and being stereotyped. As a result, we were well-placed to understand the pain and loss that came from not being welcomed into a country.
"We, I hope, will try our best to make Ireland a country of real welcome and a country of celebration of difference, a country that understands that all that difference gives such a rich range of experience, of culture, of heritage with which to craft an even richer, even more profound culture for all our children."
The President said the centre in Clonskeagh existed so that people of the Islamic faith who had come to make their lives in Ireland would be able to bridge the gap between "the world they had left behind and the new world they were coming to".
She said she hoped the centre would continue to help such newcomers "grow comfortably" into this new world.