IMAGINE how you would feel if you were born in Ireland, at least one of your parents was Irish, you were educated in Ireland and, like the vast majority of people in this country, your mother tongue was English - yet throughout your school and college days, you were regarded by many of the people with whom you came into contact as someone different, someone foreign or alien?

Sadly, this an all-too-common experience of a growing number of Irish people who are of mixed race and of members of the Travelling community.

One of the main problems encountered by Irish people of mixed race is the nation's general lack of appreciation of indeed ignorance of other cultures.

According to Cork-born Victoria Chan, who is the daughter of an Irish mother and a Chinese father, people of mixed race are expected to suppress their identities and culture.

"I am part of the first generation of Irish people of mixed race who are entering third-level education. The Irish education system fails to recognise us - there's nothing in the school curriculum that deals with multi-culturalism, it's seen as problematic. In the US, for example, you can pursue Afro-American studies - but not here... You have to chose between being Irish or non-Irish and that means denying your identity and culture.

Indeed, as a nation we are so ignorant of the concept of multiculturalism, we find it inconceivable that a person of mixed race could possibly be Irish.

Throughout her life, Chan, who recently graduated from Cork's Crawford College of Art and Design, says she has been asked questions about her use of her mother tongue - "How come your English is so good?", "Where did you learn to speak English?" and the like. "They ignore the possibility that you could have been born and brought up here," she says.

According to one mixed-race postgraduate student who attended a coeducational second-level school, teenage boys invariably viewed her in stereotypical terms as "not fully Irish - someone exotic who was expected to live up to a Suzie Wong type image." Similarly, Irish men see women of colour as sexually submissive, she says. "I am asked blatantly ignorant questions and some people deliberately state that I am inferior."

At third level though, "people are more open minded," this student says. "I personally have experienced no obvious hostility here. However, there are students who are unable to see past the stereotypes and people of colour, gays and lesbians and the disabled do suffer as a result."

Travellers too, find the education system largely ignores their culture - which has the effect of making them feel like outsiders in their own land - and ensures that the rest of us remain ignorant about their society.

According to Martin Collins, who is a community worker with Pavee Point (formerly the Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group), the self-image of Travellers has been demeaned by centuries of oppression.

"Many Travellers see themselves as inferior and less intelligent than the rest of society," he says. "Young Travellers need to receive positive vibes and their culture must be celebrated."

According to Mairin Kenny, the principal of St Kieran's National School for Traveller Children, Bray, Co Wicklow, who addressed the Higher Education Equality Unit's recent conference on Minority Ethnic Groups in Higher Education, calls for pre-service (teacher) training in multi-culturalism are being ignored. It is imperative, she says, that "a radical shift in mindset on the part of the providers of education is achieved".

A number of reports, including those of the Special Education Review Committee and the Task Force on the Travelling Community, have recommended the introduction of intercultural education for all pupils.

According to the Report on the National Education Convention, "such programmes should also reflect the culture of other ethnic minorities, as well of that of Travellers. The school population is changing and already includes minority groups such as Muslim, Vietnamese children and children from Bosnia. Appreciation of the value of other cultures has little to do with the numerical size of the group in the population."

The White Paper, though, makes no mention of specific minority ethnic groups other than Travellers.

"The White Paper deals with the issue of Travellers in two pages," comments John O'Connell, director of Pavee Point.

"Throughout the text there are occasional references to pluralism and minorities but, in my view, the White Paper was written in the context of the dominance of the Catholic Church in relation to the other religious minorities... If by minorities, it really means ethnic minorities, then it should say so."

The White Paper expresses "concern about an apparent resurgence of racism, violence and xenophobia in many countries" which serves "to underline the importance of education in areas such as human rights, tolerance, mutual understanding, cultural identity, peace and the promotion of co-operation in the world among people of different traditions and beliefs".

"This reinforces the notion that racism is something that happens elsewhere - outside Ireland," O'Connell says.

"The White Paper fails to acknowledge the fact that in 1991 an EU parliamentary committee recommended that all member states introduce anti-racism programmes into all primary schools - because all the research shows that racist and xenophobic attitudes are formed at a very early age."