The Government should appoint a minister for immigrant affairs to prevent inter-racial flashpoints, such as the one in Oldham, from developing in the Republic, Fine Gael said today.
Mr Gay Mitchell, a Fine Gael frontbench spokesman, claimed that xenophobia is "widespread" in the country.
He said: "It is estimated that up to 240,000 more immigrants are needed for the economy and, with record numbers of immigrants already in Ireland, it is timely that we reflect on what has happened in Oldham.
"Racism and xenophobia are already widespread.That a taxi driver, who was black, had to resign from his job here after a number of years is indicative of a wider problem.
"Such a minister would coordinate immigrant needs in education, health, social welfare, housing, culture and language as well as combating racism and xenophobia and preparing for the integration of the indigenous and immigrant communities.
"We need to proactively take charge of the situation to prevent incidents like Oldham occurring here."
Mr Mitchell's comments come after the Irish section of Amnesty International accused the Government of failing to adequately tackle the problem of racism which it claimed is "taking hold" in the country.
The organisation said it was "unacceptable" that there are no official statistics on racially-motivated attacks and other incidents.
PA