Ireland needs to nurture foreign languages says Integration Centre
Online ‘micropayments’ service PayPal has announced that it will hire 500 staff from outside Ireland to fill positions here because the required language skills are not available domestically.
Killian Forde, CEO of The Integration Centre said that the situation “proves beyond doubt that Ireland needs immigrants”.
He said that “without immigrants filling gaps like this, multinationals would choose not to stay in Ireland” and we would consequently find ourselves “in a seriously treacherous economic situation.”
Forde added that many immigrant children speak “much-needed” foreign languages at a young age, but are not provided with the opportunities to develop their language through the Irish school system, especially in primary school.
“A cross fertilisation of language skills would be possible if immigrants helped Irish children with their language and Irish children could help immigrants with English,” he said.
“A huge opportunity is being squandered due to the inability of the state to think creatively about education instead of focusing on resources.”
