Politicians and the Government were yesterday accused of not doing enough to combat racism and "blocking" the integration of minorities.
The charges were made at the launch, attended by Dublin schoolchildren, of a pre-World Cup poster and video campaign aimed at challenging racism.
The initiative includes the distribution of 20,000 posters of the World Cup Ireland squad and bearing the slogan "Show Racism the Red Card".
Its launch coincides with the visit to Ireland by the Nigerian national squad for a friendly match in Dublin tomorrow night.
Speaking at yesterday's event, Mr Emmanuel Aboderin, from the recently formed Irish chapter of the Nigerian Supporters' Football Association, said he was confident the popularity of football would help combat racism in Ireland.
He hoped the visit of the Nigerian team would "let people see our strengths and maybe change the opinion of people in view of the negative press reporting involving Nigerians in Ireland."
Mr Aboderin estimated that there are 10,000 to 15,000 Nigerians living in Ireland, including children. Nigerians account for about a third of all asylum applicants. He said the asylum system did not allow proper integration of minorities, as people were isolated and often sent to rural areas where they were not allowed to work.
"The Government is blocking and frustrating integration and that will have consequent effects for the future," he said, citing tensions in Britain between the police and West Indian migrants.
"We don't want that to happen in Ireland. Nigerians can integrate if given a chance," he said.
Mr Aboderin said granting asylum-seekers the right to work would allow them to mix and contribute to Irish society. "The people could see your strengths and skills and you would be more valuable instead of people seeing you as a liability to society," he added.
The co-ordinator of the project, Mr Garrett Mullan, said politicians were "way behind footballers" on this issue and had failed to show leadership.
"Our initiative sends out a powerful message that racism does not offer an alternative to the problems society faces today," he said.