Joao Kitoko and his wife Dituvinda, from Angola, have been living in Clogheen for three weeks. They like the place.
"Because I'm the first black person here everybody looks: `Ah, he's black!'," says Mr Kitoko (30), his face animated to show the surprised expression he has become used to encountering. But it doesn't bother him.
"No, I'm OK . . . I know the people are good here. They greet you in the street and say hello." His wife prefers city life and was slower to settle but has also come to like the "friendly" Tipperary village, he says.
The Kitokos are among 15 residents, including eight children, staying in the Vee Valley Hotel which was picketed by residents of Clogheen in late April and early May at the height of what appeared to be an outbreak of xenophobia in rural Ireland.
Now the same locals who initially said no to asylum-seekers call to the Vee Valley with clothes and toys for the children. At Masses last weekend the local parish priest, Father Sean Nugent, asked for and received a round of applause to welcome "our visitors".
How did it come to this? Was Clogheen not a byword for racism when the Government began its policy of dispersing asylum-seekers throughout the State?
Mr Dick Keating, chairman of the residents' committee set up at the height of the controversy in April, says locals' initial reluctance was caused by a "fear of the unknown".
Now that they have arrived and there have been no problems to date, "people who had total resistance to them coming in have suddenly become very sympathetic".
In truth, Clogheen's stance was not as hardline as it seemed. After an initial public meeting at which intolerant views were expressed and a blanket "no" was adopted as the position, reality set in and residents began to look for a compromise.
Eventually it was agreed with the owner of the Vee Valley, Mr Rory O'Brien, that 20 asylum-seekers - half the number initially proposed - would be accommodated.
Mr Keating says he is a "bit nervous" about the renewed attention the asylum-seekers' arrival is likely to bring to Clogheen. "It (the controversy) had gone away and people were going about their daily business." He would like to keep things low key and to allow the asylum-seekers "to integrate at their own speed".
A major step will be taken, he believes, when five children from the Vee Valley begin attending the local primary school next month. "When the children go to school they'll make friends with the local children and suddenly the parents will become friends. We will be moving on and it's the way to go."
Father Nugent, who has organised English language classes for the asylum-seekers, says it's time for Clogheen to look forward. "We got a very bad press for a while but people are being positive and we're leaving the past behind." Some asylum-seekers were present at the Masses last Saturday and Sunday when the ovations were given "as an indication of the goodwill towards them".
Mr Keating remains concerned about the lack of recreational and other facilities in Clogheen for the asylum-seekers, and says the concerns raised by local residents are being borne out.
"They are here for weeks now and it seems nothing has been put in place for them."
Mr Kitoko says he would like the opportunity to work, but is taking it one day at a time. His fellow residents include Nigerians, Latvians and Czechs.