A garda carefully organised his follow-up visit to the home of a Muslim woman who suffered a racist attack in Dublin city centre when paint was thrown over her chador. The garda arranged for another member of the community to sit in on the visit, in accordance with Muslim tradition that a woman does not touch or be alone with a man other than her partner.

"The visit had gone well," Supt John Mulligan, of the Garda community relations section, reports, "and as the garda went to leave he put out his hand to shake her hand. She carefully wrapped her hand in her shawl and shook his hand. He apologised, realising what had happened and the dilemma he had put her in, but other gardai may not have understood what had happened and may have thought she was implying they were dirty."

He is giving one example of situations which gardai will increasingly face in their policing of today's Ireland. No longer dealing with a monolithic white Catholic population, the force faces a new challenge to recognise and deal with difference.

It is the custom in some African nations to avoid eye contact with a person in authority as a mark of respect. But in Ireland, this could have the negative effect of making a garda suspicious.

African nations also have a tradition of dealing with the police through their entire extended family, which arrives en masse at a station and communicates with the officer in charge through a tribe spokesman. Differences in culture, religion and ethnicity can affect what kind of food is appropriate to give a person in police custody.

"On top of various religious and cultural idiosyncrasies we must deal with the reality that some members of minority groups simply do not trust the gardai because they did not trust the police in their home country. Because of past experiences these people expect police abuse and bribe-taking as commonplace," Supt Mulligan adds.

The new Garda intercultural unit will become fully operational next month, circulating educational material in written and video form to members by mid-October. A police forum, drawing on representatives of various ethnic communities, will advise on policies and practices aimed at increasing levels of understanding.

Chief Supt Catherine Clancy, who heads the community relations section, which includes the national juvenile office, crime prevention and victim support, says the consultation process will be the cornerstone of the new unit.

"We will be developing our policies in consultation with the various stakeholders and at the same time providing a service to our own members. It is recognised within the Garda Siochana that the only way forward is through consultation with the community," she states.

The increasing number of refugees and asylum-seekers was the catalyst for the new intercultural unit in Harcourt Square. Up to the end of last month, 6,100 applications for asylum had been processed so far this year, compared to 7,724 for 1999. However, Supt Mulligan stresses, this new effort also aims to cater for groups who have lived in Ireland for generations.

"We are finding that levels of fear are rising within communities when refugees arrive - some locals believe they are criminals and armed. In fact, it's as likely for an Irish person to carry a weapon as it would be for an asylum-seeker. There is a fear of cultural difference and labelling is occurring which can spill over into ill-feeling towards minorities," he adds.

Mr Christian Richardson (24), whose father was repeatedly stabbed on Pearse Street in June as he tried to protect his Jamaican-born wife, announced this week that he was leaving Ireland after being chased and taunted in north Dublin. His parents had been on a brief visit to Ireland to see him when the knife attack occurred.

Mr Richardson admits he now feels "a bit scared" to live here and has returned to his native Bristol. His father, who fought for his life after the attack, has since left hospital and is recovering.

Mr Philip Watt, of the National Consultative Committee on Race and Inter culturalism (NCCRI), says evidence indicates that "hate" crimes are on the increase in Ireland, especially in urban areas.

He describes the establishment of the new Garda unit as "a very important initiative".

He stresses the importance of Garda crime figures, including racially motivated attacks. To date incidents have not been recorded as racist. However, more detailed records will be kept within the next two years with the full implementation of the computerised PULSE system.

"I believe there is a degree of underreporting of racial attacks, especially by new communities here, and it is important for the gardai to build up trust with these communities so they feel they can turn to them for help.

"There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that gardai haven't handled some situations as well as they might have. But there has also been a lot of positive work going on in the background with a number of officers taking the initiative to forge links," Mr Watt adds.

Dr Ronit Lentin, from Israel, has lived in Ireland for more than 30 years and is director of the postgraduate course in Race and Ethnic Studies at Trinity College. She says misconceptions exist around changes to Irish society, including the belief that racism has only developed with the arrival of asylum-seekers.

She describes the Garda initiative as "wonderful" but warns against any attempt to achieve full integration. "Ireland will never be like it was." However, she says ethnic minorities must be encouraged to participate and in turn the majority must "really listen".

"I myself dealt with the gardai earlier this year when a postcard was sent to my house with the words `Our day will come', written in German. An article I had written on anti-Semitism had just appeared in a national newspaper. While the gardai were very pleasant about it, they didn't appear to understand the implications of the postcard and that a neo-Nazi group may have been operating in Ireland."

Sgt David Walsh, the first officer to be transferred into the intercultural unit, is pleased to find himself working in the area after completing the Trinity College course. "All the feedback is telling us that if we don't consult, anything we do develop in the unit will not be as effective as we had hoped."

Multiculturalism is not outside of or separate from the gardai. According to Sgt Walsh, we can no longer assume homogeneity within groups. A number of gardai will not be married to white Irish partners and the force should encourage ethnic minorities to join.