Thousands gathered in Dublin today to protest the racism that has been expressed towards refugees arriving in Ireland.

The Ireland For All coalition led the large turnout of protestors from Parnell Square to the Custom House.

In recent months, there have been a series of, mostly small, far-right protests across the country and even attacks on refugees and asylum seekers.

But the swathes of people at today's anti-racism march had a clear message: "Stand up, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”

'Not taking from the Irish'

One attendee, Catriona Spears-Cahill wanted to emphasise that having refugees in Ireland takes nothing away from the Irish.

"I'm here because I care about people", she said.

"Refugees are not taking anything away from the Irish ... we have the resources in this country to house refugees and the Irish all at once, it's just that the government will not take action."

"It's really depressing and I think we should be upholding human rights here."

"Everyone deserves to be safe and to have housing, health, jobs and education."

'Rise in confidence of racism'

Another protestor, Aidan Cahill, says there's been "a rise in confidence of racism in Ireland lately".

"I'm very perturbed, in particular, about the attack on the homeless men in Ashtown", he said.

He says the group at today's rally want to share ideas and come up a way to "move things in a more positive direction".

"We believe in diversity of all sorts. We think the root of the problem is certainly not people coming into the country who've done nothing but good for the country."

"It's chronic government neglect of the housing sector over the years, in particular, has given rise to huge discontent."

"Inequality is growing at a really worrying rate and unless we bring forward policies to address these issues, we're going to have more and more of this far-right action here in Ireland."

Main image shows a crowd gathering for today's anti-racism rally. Picture by Claire McNamara/Newstalk