Employers' group Ibec has called for foreign languages to be made compulsory at primary school level.
The group says it is concerned at the poor level of foreign language competence among Irish students.
The latest OECD research rates Ireland last in a list of 11 countries in terms of the foreign language skills of primary school students.
Ibec's assistant director of enterprise Caroline Nash said: "Ireland continues to underachieve when it comes to the teaching of foreign languages and this needs to be addressed".
Ms Nash said: "There are signs of a falloff in the numbers taking foreign languages in the Leaving Certificate."
"From a business perspective, this is very worrying," she said.
Since 1997 the number of students taking French, German, Spanish and Italian in the Leaving Certificate has dropped by 7 per cent or from 79 per cent to 72 per cent.
Ibec says the Government's Modern Languages in Primary Schools pilot programme should be integrated into the mainstream curriculum and made available in all schools.
Ms Nash said"Currently there are 391 primary schools offering foreign languages as part of the primary schools project and this needs to increase."
"Younger children are very receptive to new experiences and the earlier they can be introduced to new languages the better."
Ms Nash also criticised the range of languages available in secondary schools which she said needed "to better reflect the reality of modern global communications".