More than any other country, Ireland is well acquainted with the issue of immigration, which it now has to confront anew. The island republic is no longer obsessed with the question of why so many of its citizens chose to leave, but rather why so many people from other countries want to come.
Immigration resonates in Irish history, especially since the great famine that struck in the mid-19th century, and through decades of "the troubles" in Northern Ireland and a chronically weak economy.
Immigration is frequently at the core of Irish literature and heart-rending songs about poor people leaving the country for opportunities elsewhere, never to see their homeland again. Millions left for the United States, where they often faced a continuation of the poverty they knew in their homeland and discrimination largely due to their Roman Catholic faith.
But in the last decade, Ireland has to refocus on an influx of tens of thousands of people from Lithuania, Poland and other European countries, as well as large numbers of Africans hoping to stay.
About 31 per cent of those who applied for asylum last year were from Nigeria, Zimbabwe or the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
These immigrants who came seeking job opportunities or hoping to be reunited with families have changed the profile of the Irish population and fueled debate over racism.
In May, Mary White, minister for equality and integration, vowed to root out "pockets" of racism and called for a radical reform of the asylum system. "We have to be absolutely clear in our hearts and our minds that there is absolutely no place for racism and xenophobia in this country," she told the Irish Times, adding that she would do everything she could to help people embrace multi-culturalism.
Currently, asylum-seekers in Ireland are not permitted to work while awaiting decision on their cases, which White hopes to change. The government is working on a new immigration bill, and White said it was her personal view that there could be some positive changes, including action on work permits.
The government argues that giving work permits to asylum-seekers would encourage false claims. The wait can be frustratingly long - up to six years.
Eric Yao, co-ordinator of the Africa Centre in Dublin, said the majority of African immigrants are not asylum-seekers. Many are former students who decided to stay after completing education. Others came for economic opportunities in the years when the Irish economy was booming. Yao said that Ireland "was not adequately prepared for the numbers that came in," and the immigration took the country by surprise.
The number of racially motivated attacks against Africans began rising in Ireland in late 2008 when the country's economy started tanking, Yao said. "There was an undercurrent of racism that had been concealed before, that then came out to the fore," Yao told the German Press Agency, dpa. The African Centre was founded in 2001 to give African immigrants a voice in national affairs and promote their participation in government and society. It has taken on the responsibility of keeping track of racially motivated attacks, Yao said, after money for a government committee assigned to do the job was cut.
The recent stabbing death of 15-year-old Toyosi Shittabey, who arrived in Dublin from Nigeria with his parents as a young child, was denounced by the African community in Ireland. But Yao said the community has steered clear of involvement in order not to prejudice the case.
Reacting to Shittabey's death, White said she would travel around the country to hear concerns of immigrants as part of a new ministerial council on integration. White said she planned to set up a new integration taskforce, which will include Irish representatives, to consider how to better deliver services to immigrants.
Afo Mashoud, a Togolese who arrived more than 10 years ago, agreed that the beginning of difficulties for African immigrants in Ireland coincided with the recession.
"They are behaving differently because of the recession. Many people have lost their jobs," Mashoud said. "They ask you straight, 'How did you get a job?' They have started to think about their past and how they suffered here." Even though subsidies provided by the government have been reduced, Mashoud said conditions are good. African families he knows have homes with room for their children and even gardens. They have a better life in Ireland than in any other country, he said. "Compared to France," Mashoud said, "it's luxury."
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