Unemployed people from four counties are participating in a European Experience Programme to learn another language intensively over 12 weeks. The IBEC programme, which is financed by the Government, the Area Development Partnerships and the LEADER programmes, is in its third year and 80 people from Kerry, Galway, Mayo and Dublin are taking part . The programme's director, Mr Paddy Jordan, said the EU had consistently found the Irish were "the least linguistically competent" and that as much as 40 per cent of employees in call centres were foreigners.

"All the hype about opportunities and euro zone dimensions will be meaningless unless we can communicate with the Germans, French, Italians and Spaniards in the language that is most familiar to them," he said.

The programme comprises an induction period of up to six weeks, a 12-week stint in a continental language school and a further phase during which participants are encouraged to seek work.