The Government has been accused of being involved in a "race to the bottom" by promoting migrant and asylum policies which pander "to the worst instincts" of some people on the far right.
Labour Leader Ivana Bacik said Ireland is a "welcoming society" but the Coalition is introducing new asylum policies "without evidence".
Speaking during Leaders' Questions in the Dáil, she asserted there are "rising levels of prejudice" in Ireland with buildings housing asylum seekers "set alight" and migrants attacked on the streets.
She said new government polices, like obliging working asylum seekers to contribute to their accommodation, "looks like performative deterrence theatre."
Ms Bacik said another policy, which restricts family reunions, makes things harder for the wider society and called on the Government to adopt a more positive approach, which highlights the positives that migration brings, and how asylum seekers are a tiny proportion of that.
In reply, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this was a "very important issue", adding that he had been "very consistent" in advancing the positive advantages of inward migration.
He recounted a recent visit to Microsoft where he was told the company employed 93 nationalities.
The Taoiseach said he condemned "any attacks or any form of racism or targeting of people due to the ethnicity."
He added: "I abhor it."
However, he said it was wrong to suggest that the Government's introduction of a fair, robust and legal migratory pathway is "somehow incentivising those attacks or contributing to the sentiment."
The Taoiseach said it was important to have fair and robust asylum system because the absence of it "would the negative climate, that's part of the issue."
He said the truth was that asylum is based on people escaping "conflict and war", yet the evidence proves that the motivation for many arrivals claiming asylum was "economic."
He concluded that the Coalition had "shown political leadership", noting that negative attitudes to Brexit had informed the referendum and had "disastrous results."
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns accused the Government of choosing to frame migration in a negative light.
She told the Dáil that multiple ministers were now saying that the level of net migration was too high.
And she said that both the Coalition and some in Opposition were framing migration as a problem and migrants as a burden.
Ms Cairns said the Government was now vocal on reducing migration despite statistics showing that the level of migration was down by 26% last year while international protection applications were down 40%.
She also detailed three recent racist attacks and said the Government should be doing more to tackle hate.
The Taoiseach said he condemned those attacks but said he resented what he called the conflation of racist attacks and Government policy.
He said that was wrong and unfair.
He also said there was a growing atmosphere largely fuelled by elements in society far removed from the Dáil who were seeking to gain electoral traction.
And he said it was the responsibility of TDs to ensure those views did not hold sway.
But he added that people do have concerns about migration and he said there was no point pretending otherwise.
He said the best way to handle migration was through legal pathways.
