A COLOURFUL map of the world adorned the wall of the small upstairs room at the Vietnamese Centre in Hardwicke Street, Dublin. Beneath it, a handful of displaced people from some of its most strife ridden lands gathered around the small wooden tables to discuss the common needs and difficulties they share in this country.
Iraq, Cuba and Vietnam were among the countries represented at the first meeting of the Association for Refugees in Ireland, an organisation prompted largely by a reported growing tide of racism caused by an influx of refugees and asylumseekers to Ireland.
The group has vowed to defend the rights of those coming to Ireland and to publicly champion their plight. It will also assist in easing the increasing demands being imposed on the understaffed Irish Refugee Council, upon which newly arrived refugees descend daily.
On just one day last month, 46 new refugees arrived at its office. Ms Lena Barrett, a case worker, said recent publicity about the growing number of refugees in Ireland had brought out an underlying racism in many Irish people.
The council has received threatening telephone calls from an organisation calling itself "The White Knights" and leaflets have been distributed by another racist group calling itself "Ireland for the Irish".
"Some Irish people have been wonderful, but there is a constant level of harassment. We have some highly educated people here, but we have had people at flats say `no blacks' and shut their doors on them," said Ms Barrett.
Ireland was not taking advantage of the many well educated and talented refugees arriving in Ireland. "We have always complained of the brain drain. We have an awful lot of brainy people here and we are not taking advantage of it."
One such person is the association's founder, Mr Khalid Ibrahim, who comes from Iraq's Arab Marsh area. He managed to escape from Iraq and flew to Syria. He then made it to Moscow where he spent two years, but failed to secure a visa for Britain, where his two brothers had taken refuge.
The Irish Embassy in Moscow, however, helped him obtain a visa to come here a year and a half ago, but it is only two days since the Department of Justice granted him refugee status. This means he can now look for work. "I will not be on benefit, I will tell you for sure. I will do any job at all," Mr Ibrahim said.
The association would promote understanding of refugees coming to Ireland, he said, but politicians and the media had responsibilities in this area.
"A lot of us are lawyers and doctors and have degrees. I have a degree in physics and computers. I did not just leave to come here and take money."
Mr Rutilio Lopez, from Havana, came to Ireland with his wife and two children. He is involved with Concilio Cubano, an antigovernment lobby group. "I came because in Cuba we are persecuted for our political opinions. I was an enemy of the system," he said. "You can be arrested and put in jail for three years without trial."
Mr Lopez, who is well educated and teaches Spanish free of charge in Dublin, had to wait 2 1/2 years before he was granted refugee status.
Of the recent media coverage of the issues concerning refugees, he said: "The politicians made it an issue in the election, but this was very negative, it was only a game. It was good because everybody was talking and thinking about refugees, but for some Irish people it was bad. It spread bad feelings."