Asylum-seekers told the weekend forum on human rights in Dublin that they continued to be victims of racist intimidation and longed for the right to work.
Many of the 400 participants were visibly shocked when a young black man read out a letter, currently circulating in some parts of Dublin, warning about the "dangers" of granting asylum to Africans.
The letter said asylum-seekers were trying to take advantage of "young insecure Irish women" to gain citizenship and asked Irish men how they would feel if their wife or girlfriend had a sexual relationship with a black man.
The young man said the letter, which had been seen by many asylum-seekers, had increased the oppressive atmosphere faced by the refugee community. He was speaking during a session on "Addressing Irish Racism" in the main hall at Dublin Castle.
The letter also said: "Black men are here in Ireland, they want to live like leeches by taking advantage of our good-natured Irish personality. Once they get here, they are hard to get out because they all look the same and share passports."
It blamed the refugee community for importing most of the drugs into the State, as "drugs don't grow in Europe because it is too cold".
The letter ended by warning Irish citizens that blacks "keep five to 10 snakes in their houses and drink their blood".
While parts of the letter were greeted with laughter, Dr Anastasia Crickley, of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, said it illustrated the ignorance and hatred which existed in some parts of the city.
Mr Mohammed Haji, representing the Association of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ireland (ARASI), joked that in the light of the comment about snakes, "maybe we should bring St Patrick back".
However, he said that the sentiments towards asylum-seekers contained in the letter were to be found among a certain section of Irish society. "What about people who have been abused in the street and beaten up? What about the hate mail the Lord Mayor [of Dublin] received recently?" he said.
He gave the forum details of a recent survey by the African Refugee Network which showed that out of 40 Africans questioned, some 30 had experienced problems integrating into Irish society.
The respondents said they experienced the worst racism from landlords, security personnel and welfare officials.
Mr Haji pointed out that the survey found that the prohibition on asylum-seekers taking up employment while waiting for their applications to be processed was the "major barrier to social integration".
"The legal bar on the right to work . . . means they cannot develop a network of work colleagues," he added.
"The only solution is to remove the chains from our legs, allow us to work and study, so that they stop calling us spongers," one speaker said.
Another man said refugees lived in the "shadows" because they could not contribute like everyone else.
Also included in the survey were case studies of individual asylum-seekers. These included details of a 36-year-old woman from Somalia who lived in a bedsitter with her disabled child, who was conceived as a result of a rape during the civil war in that country. She claimed that she had been turned down for asylum because her English was too good.
"That decision displayed a complete ignorance of the history of colonisation in Somalia where several European languages are spoken," the survey stated.
The debate from the floor became heated when Ms Aine Ni Chonaill, a spokeswoman for Immigration Control Platform, said the asylum process was a "modern form of invasion".
This comment was dismissed by subsequent speakers who said it ignored the generations of Irish who emigrated to the US and elsewhere in greater numbers than the refugees coming into the Republic.
The increased numbers of refugees coming to Ireland may result in a rise in the number of torture victims needing treatment for physical and psychological problems, according to the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists.
The society, speaking on UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on Saturday, said it was important that these people were properly treated.