So rapid have been the changes wrought by recent immigration that their implications are still being absorbed. But the demographic shifts of the past two decades - the most dramatic since the founding of the State - are already posing searching questions for State and society. A country that was until recently an exporter of youth has reached a position where more than 10 per cent of its population were born beyond its borders.
But as chronicled by Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, winner of the 2007 Douglas Gageby Fellowship, in the Changing Places series in this newspaper, statistics cannot capture the myriad ways in which immigrants - pivotal to our economic growth - have changed and enriched the dynamic of social exchanges across so many spheres. They have brought new cultures, religions and experiences into the frame of what was, by post-war European standards, a broadly homogeneous society.
The economic and social wellbeing of this and future generations is ineluctably tied to our success in engaging with newcomers. And as attention turns from admission to incorporation, it falls to the new Government to ensure that Ireland and its immigrants get the best from each other. The welcome appointment of a Minister of State for integration policy is designed to draw together the work being done across several departments.
As the Immigrant Council says, there remains a general lack of vision or strategy in migration and integration policy. The first obstacle is the dearth of statistical information. Data gathered by each Government department should be collated centrally and gaps in our knowledge identified. Only then can proper planning for schools, housing, health services and infrastructure take place.
The consequences of poor co-ordination are widely strewn. The ability of public bodies to communicate with many of those they serve is undermined by inconsistent policies on language and interpreting, with standards varying across Garda stations, hospitals and courtrooms. In what is perhaps the most important site of integration - the classroom - the State has been too slow to provide adequate language tuition, while curricula have yet to reflect the diversity of modern Ireland.
A balance must be struck between the imperatives of immigration and integration policies. The use of social policy as an instrument of border control, evident in the refusal of child benefit to asylum seekers (who are also banned from paid work and given a weekly payment of €19.10), is not only morally questionable but also risks creating poverty and closes avenues to integration.
Recent governments have taken laudable steps to avert racism and xenophobia. But it is not enough to preach tolerance - we tolerate headaches - or respect for difference. We must ensure that while working to defeat prejudice, inequality (and the resentment it breeds) is not allowed to assume an ethnic dimension. The experience of our European neighbours shows that the rewards of success are great, but so too the costs of failure.