Children of Lithuanian immigrants in the Irish Republic feel unsafe and some have been beaten up for being more attractive than their Irish peers, according to a government watchdog from the Baltic state.

Rimante Salasevicuite, the Lithuanian Ombudsman for Children, made the claims after visiting Ireland last week to study the conditions in which an estimated 120,000 of her countrymen and women live.

She will report to the Lithuanian parliament next week. In a newspaper interview she painted a portrait of life in Ireland starkly at odds with its image as the “Land of a Hundred Thousand Welcomes”.

“In one Irish town Lithuanian children are beaten only because they are more beautiful than Irish ones,” Ms Salasevicuite told Lietuvos Rytas.

She also said that Lithuanian children felt unsafe, were discriminated against and were “prohibited from speaking to each other in their own language, even between siblings”.

Ms Salasevicuite said that after meetings with teachers and active members of the Irish Lithuanian community she had concluded that Lithuanian children were not considered the equals of Irish children. Parents were afraid to register complaints.

Lithuanians are the second-largest migrant group in the Republic, behind Poles, and work mainly in the labouring, agricultural and hostelry sectors. There are 24,600 living in Ireland, according to official figures, although the real figure is likely to be more than 120,000.

Ireland has experienced a steep rise in immigration over the past decade in an astonishing turnaround for a country that was a net exporter of people for 150 years.

Foreigners now account for approximately 10 per cent of the population, but there have been few incidents of racially motivated violence. Some political commentators nevertheless remarked upon the absence of “the elephant in the living room” as an issue in last month’s general election.

As Catholics, Lithuanians and Poles have been credited with reviving the fortunes of many congregations in a nation that has traditionally been Mass-observant but where in recent years, because of a series of sex-abuse scandals, the Church has lost its moral leadership role.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish Foreign Ministry, said yesterday that its Ambassador to Lithuania, Donal Denham, had met Ms Salasevicuite and asked her where she gathered her information.

Ms Salasevicuite admitted that the Irish Ambassador disputed her portrait of conditions during frank exchanges but that she stood by her remarks. She said that Lithuanian children were not subject to discrimination in all Irish schools. “We know of very good examples in the little towns,” she said.

Ms Salasevicuite said of her talks with the ambassador: “We agreed that this situation was not known until now, because the Lithuanian parents never talked about it. Parents are afraid of creating further problems at their work, at schools were children are being taught.” She also said that the official figures did not show the reality of the size of the Lithuanian population. She estimated there were up to 30,000 Lithuanian children in Irish schools.

Aruna Teiserskis, director of the Lithuanian Association in Ireland, who met Ms Salasevicuite, said: “Her comments have probably been a little overhyped, but we have had parents giving us examples of what I would consider racist attitudes.

“Children have been prevented from speaking Lithuanian. We don’t want our children to lose their language. And violence does happen in some areas, usually after school. We like to dress well and perhaps that annoys some Irish, who expect immigrants to look poor.”

Mr Teiserskis, a researcher at Trinity College Dublin, said that there were many positive experiences, but it was important to highlight the isolated instances to prevent them from becoming commonplace.

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