Significant social, cultural and economic barriers continue to impede the delivery of public services to immigrants, a major new report has found.
Members of minority ethnic groups also suffer ongoing discrimination as a result of individual and institutional racism, according to the report by the Centre for Cross Border Studies, which has been seen by The Irish Times.
The research, which will be launched by Northern Ireland Office minister of state David Hanson in Stormont today, calls for improved co-operation between government departments and public bodies on both sides of the Border.
"NGOs interviewed by the researchers have expressed concern and frustration at the lack of inter-agency co-operation in relation to minority ethnic groups, sometimes feeling that it is not clear where responsibility lies and that they are being passed from one service provider to another," the report states.
It suggests government agencies can improve and tailor public services by learning from the experiences of other countries with a longer history of inward migration, such as Scotland.
In the Republic, incidents of individual racism and racial discrimination are common but there is as yet no systematic and effective report system for racially motivated crimes, it states.
Meanwhile, in the North, 813 racial incidents were reported to the PSNI in 2004/05, including one murder, 10 threats to murder and 187 woundings or assaults.
The report also claims there is evidence of systemic racism embedded through indirect discrimination in institutions, where the adverse impact on minority ethnic groups was often not the intention of policymakers. An example given is the requirement for applicants for some State jobs to be able to speak Irish.
The largely Catholic nature of the school system in the Republic is also seen as "problematic" for children from different religious backgrounds.
The researchers also reported claims that people from minority ethnic backgrounds in the North were refused treatment in hospitals or by GPs, and that the police had not investigated some racist attacks adequately.
A key way to tackle racism and promote the inclusion of minorities is to ensure that public services are "inclusive of the whole community". A lack of information is seen as the main problem in many areas.
The report, Improving Government Service Delivery to Minority Ethnic Groups: Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland, looked at how minority groups were treated in health, education and other public services.
It says there appears to be a lack of ethnic diversity among those working in government bodies, particularly at senior levels. In the North, the staff who had most contact with minority groups had the least training.
In the health sector, the provision of interpretation services is the main issue for many immigrants, yet the Republic, unlike Northern Ireland, does not have a 24-hour translating service.
The lack of this service can act as a disincentive to registering patients from minority communities, the report says. While children often interpret for their parents, this is not appropriate, it says.
On current projections, Ireland will have the highest proportion of immigrants by 2030, when one million people, or 18 per cent of the population, will be foreign-born.
