The Clare Immigrant Support Centre has described new figures on incidents of racism as merely the "tip of the iceberg".
It follows a report from the European Network Against Racism which shows that 165 serious hate crimes were reported in this country last year.
165 incidents of racism were reported in this country last year – racist language was used in 30 of these, and 23 were committed by strangers.
Despite this, the President of the Nigerian Community Of Clare doesn't believe this type of crime is as prevalent in the county as it is elsewhere, particularly in Dublin.
Abi Ladigboulu believes that festivals here, including Africa Day are helping to promote better understanding, build bonds and reduce fear between different nationalities.
But he says there have been serious incidents in the county including assaults and he insits that more needs to be done to stamp out racism altogether.
The Project Coordinator at the Clare Immigrant Support Centre believes that hundreds of people are playing down incidents of racism, rather than reporting them.
Orla Ní Eilí insists that action needs to be taken both at Government level and within local communities to stop the escalation of these cases.
She insits that hate crimes need to be criminalised here.
