THE Irish are the most mobile workers in the EU, but they lack language skills, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment said yesterday. Mr Richard Bruton told an EU conference on labour mobility that foreign languages should become a core subject for primary schools.
Twelve per cent of Irish citizens live in other member-states, compared with an EU average of 2 per cent. If Irish emigrants to the US and other non-EU states were included the rate of Irish mobility would be shown to be even higher, Mr Bruton added.
Poor language skills created a barrier which was a major factor "inhibiting mobility within the EU. It is one of the factors which acts against the kind of mobility we see today in the US".
"An example of how this issue of foreign language ability is of some concern in this we have currently over 3,000 people with foreign languages employed in the tele business or call centres sector. This is expected to double over the next three years.
At present most people employed in the industry were university graduates but often they were overqualified. People other than graduates would need language skills if this type of employment growth was to be maintained.
"We will need to review the stage at which we teach languages in our schools, the degree of emphasis on the spoken language and "consider the case for introducing foreign-language teaching at primary level as a core subject." A major objective of the European Commission's White Paper Towards the Learning Society was to make EU citizens fluent in at least three Community languages, he said.
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mr Padraig Flynn, agreed, saying the key to competitiveness in the next century would be the skill levels of a country's workforce.
Mr Bruton and Mr Flynn denied that teaching an extra language as a core subject at primary level meant Irish might be "squeezed out". Educational research suggested that a facility in one language helped children acquire another they said.
The conference, held in Dublin Castle, heard that EU nationals were more reluctant than US citizens to travel in search of work. Many prefer to remain in poorer-paid jobs or unemployed in their communities because they believe their quality of life is better.