And then came one electrifying night at a debate hosted by the Philosophical Society in University College Cork. Dr Kader Asmal, leader of the Irish Anti-Apartheid movement, blasted my eyes open to the realities of racism with a passionate speech. (Dr Asmal is now South Africa’s education minister – how I wish he could be co-opted to the Irish cabinet for a while!)The handling of the refugee issue by the Irish government – a combination of bureaucratic inertia and the absence of any kind of moral leadership – substantially increased the odds in favour of some kind of racist reaction against refugees. The Richardsons were not refugees, of course, but the attack took place in the context of a heightened antipathy on the streets towards foreigners of a different colour.I don’t want to give the impression that most of the country is seething with racial hatred.

In areas where people have become used to the presence of foreigners over a period of years – the town of Ennis near the west coast for example – there has generally been an easier attitude. There are resentments but these have been ameliorated by the supportive attitude of the local newspaper and prominent townspeople.For some time now, more traditionalist commentators have been decrying the death of what they call “old-fashioned” Irish values. I’ve been inclined to take a lot of what they write with a large pinch of salt. If by traditional values they mean the unholy alliance of church and state which suffocated us for so long, then good riddance. But if they are talking about the death of welcome and generosity, the abandonment of the spiritual in favour of the material.. they have a serious point. One of the few powerful groups in the country to counter this has been the Catholic hierarchy. To their credit, the bishops have challenged the government to adopt a more humane approach but it is a paradox of this new Ireland that when bishops become liberal, politicians become more right-wing.Ireland has not been immune to the relentless propaganda which suggests Europe is about to be overwhelmed by hordes of refugees from beyond its borders.

The reaction of too many European politicians has been to ride this wave of ignorance and exploit it for narrow gain Ireland has its share of these bozos. If the politicians can drag themselves away from stroking the Celtic Tiger, they might get around to offering some genuine moral leadership on the race/refugee issue. Shout it from every rooftop, Mr Prime Minister: racism is murderous.Fergal Keane won the One World Media Award this week for his reporting in Africa. Today, in Belgium, England’s footballers are marching to meet what the pundits can hardly help thinking of as their Waterloo (when they can resist calling it “the showdown in Charleroi”). This famous figure of speech is routinely called forth by anything like a date with destiny, but in this case it is apt, since the battlefield itself lies only a few miles up the road from the stadium. More to the point, the match is taking place on the anniversary of the battle itself. Today, in Belgium, England’s footballers are marching to meet what the pundits can hardly help thinking of as their Waterloo (when they can resist calling it “the showdown in Charleroi”).