Forty per cent of people would be reluctant to welcome Travellers as neighbours, according to a survey published by Amnesty International to coincide with a new campaign against racism.
Fewer than one-third would welcome Travellers, asylum-seekers or members of ethnic minorities into their communities, the survey found.
Just 15 per cent of respondents said they could see themselves being friends with refugees/asylum-seekers, Travellers or Romanians. This figure rose to 18 per cent for Muslims, 20 per cent for Africans and 28 per cent for Jewish people. The highest level of tolerance was for black people, at 32 per cent, and Chinese, at 39 per cent.
Amnesty's director, Mr Sean Love, said it was 15 months since the Government had promised an awareness campaign against racism. "It still hasn't happened," he said.
Almost half of those questioned said that people should be prosecuted for racial abuse, and three-quarters agreed the Government had a responsibility to educate the public about racism. Mr Love said the survey exposed "a crucial failure of political leadership". Amnesty blames the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who feature strongly in advertisements for the campaign.
"Racism is taking hold. People are being abused on our streets and attacked in their homes. Is the Government waiting until we reach the levels of racist violence in other countries before it takes action?" said Mr Love.
In response, the Department of Justice yesterday issued an 18-page document listing the anti-racism measures taken by Mr O'Donoghue. It said the steering group for the awareness campaign had met twice since April. The programme would be launched in the autumn. People could report racist incidents on the website of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (www.nccri.com).
Amnesty is also calling for a review of the Prohibition on the Incitement to Hatred Act. No successful prosecution has been taken under this Act since it was introduced in 1989. Policy officer Ms Ursula Fraser pointed out that Ireland had no legal definition of a racially motivated crime.
Amnesty wants an independent body to investigate racially motivated incidents. But Mr Love conceded that it was difficult to assess the real level of racism in society.
The survey found that Irish people had little contact with other groups. Just one in five said they knew a black person, and 9 per cent knew a Traveller or Jewish person. Only 6 per cent knew a refugee/asylum-seeker and 5 per cent knew a Muslim or Romanian.
The survey of 1,000 people aged 15 and over was carried out by Lansdowne Market Research in April.
