When Kembetia Bissa fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Ireland in 2003 he found not only sanctuary but beauty, friendship and a home.

Bissa settled in Bandon, County Cork, and got work as a landscaper. He opened an African dance school with Congolese drumming and taught local people the rhythms of his homeland. “It was very positive, very welcoming. I felt like I was in my own country,” the 55-year-old said this week in Dublin.

Times have changed. For the interview with the Guardian he took a Luas tram from Tallaght, a west Dublin suburb, to the centre. When he sat down a white man beside him glowered, stood up and moved away. “He did not want to be near me.”

It was a small indicator that for some Congolese people, other migrants and people of colour in Ireland, the welcome is over. A spate of incidents including a death with echoes of George Floyd, have prompted a reckoning over race and racism. “We are actually scared now,” said Bissa, who runs the Facebook group, Congolese Community in Ireland. “We are scared they should start to target us in our homes, on the street. If this thing is not controlled the number of deaths will be worse.”