Vol. 440 No. 7
27 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on whether the level of competence of European languages in the Irish tourist industry is adequate to cope with the increasing numbers of Europeans visiting this country.
28 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on whether the level of competence of European languages in the Irish tourist industry is adequate to cope with the increasing numbers of Europeans visiting this country.
30 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade his views on whether the level of competence of European languages in the Irish tourist industry is adequate to cope with the increasing numbers of Europeans visiting this country.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 28 and 30 together.
There is a definite need for tourism industry personnel to develop and improve their European language skills. This need has become more acute in recent years, because of the remarkable growth we have seen in visitor numbers from the mainland European market.
CERT, the national tourism training body, is aware of this need and has responded with a number of training initiatives, designed to improve the language skills of various categories of personnel who work in the industry. These initiatives include: training programmes —for example, evening courses, in-company training and language training in conjunction with technical courses; interactive video and distance learning.
Language training is an integral part of all CERT tourism training courses held in CERT training centres and in regional colleges. Both language training requirements and opportunities are consistently stressed to the industry.
The Tourism Council is considering this issue and I also raised it, in direct discussions with the industry, most recently in my address to the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation Conference yesterday.
As only 1 per cent of those who leave Germany and France each year visit this country does the Minister agree it is essential that those involved in the tourism industry have European language skills? Has the Department carried out any evaluation of the level of competence in European languages in the tourism industry to see if CERT's language training programmes are effective?
I raised this issue on a number of occasions in my discussions with the industry and CERT. To tackle this problem CERT provides courses to improve language skills. The industry is also conscious of this problem. Since 1988 visitor numbers from mainland Europe have increased by 114.2 per cent. While I can give the figures for the number of visitors from Germany, France and so on this is the one sector of the tourism industry where there has been growth. It is in the interest of the industry to train staff to deal with visitors from these countries given that this sector is likely to expand further in they year ahead. CERT will continue to provide these training facilities.
Is the Minister aware that surveys carried out on an annual basis during the past three years show that out of 20 countries surveyed we are 19th on the list and lag hopelessly behind in terms of linguistic skills? While I acknowledge that we have made a break-through in the continental market our incompetence in modern continental languages is a major barrier and deterrent, particularly for those who do not speak English although the majority of visitors do. Is there any liaison between the Minister and the Minister for Education to improve language skills — by placing too much emphasis on grammar we kill interest in modern continental languages—and to broaden the range of courses available? Ninety-two per cent of post primary schools only provide courses in French and the vast majority of students receive little or no instruction in German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or other minority languages in the European Union.
I agree with the Deputy that over-concentration on grammar kills interest in languages. I must confess that over-emphasis on grammar killed my interest in the Irish language at both national and secondary school level. As a result I am not competent to hold a conversation in Irish with my youngest child.
The Minister has not managed too badly.
Even though I passed the Irish examination while pursuing the B.Comm. I could not speak the language.
The Minister is not at a disadvantage in any way.
Deputy Higgins is correct when he says that we have a poor record. I have asked the Tourist Council to examine the issue and make recommendations to tackle this problem. A sub-committee will present a report at the next meeting of the Tourism Council. Given the increase in the number of tourists from mainland Europe it is in the interests of the industry to improve language skills.
