A Meath project which involves older people teaching English to foreign nationals should be replicated all over the State, President Mary McAleese said yesterday.
The "Fáilte Isteach" project, set up by the Third Age Foundation in Summerhill was officially launched by Mrs McAleese in the Meath village yesterday.
It began last October when active retirement group members noticed that some immigrants were having problems in supermarkets and elsewhere because they did not speak English.
Now 15 older people give conversation classes to about 25 immigrants every Tuesday night. Mrs McAleese said it was "a good, simple idea" delivered by a community to meet an important need.
"It's so simple, so easily replicated right around our country and so needed when now we are told 10 per cent of our workforce is from outside Ireland," she said.
Mary Nally, chairwoman of the Third Age Foundation said Summerhill sounded like the League of Nations on Tuesday nights. "We have people from Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Argentina, France, Germany, Moldova and China coming to talk, listen and learn," she said.
"Fáilte Isteach is helping to improve the quality of life for new residents who have been struggling with the kind of day-to-day things that we take for granted, such as asking for directions, helping their child with homework or explaining symptoms to the doctor," she said. "We are integrating a new community into life in a small village and we are all the richer for it."
Argentinian jockey Cristian Andres Roman said his English had greatly improved since he began the classes in October. He works with 15 Argentinians and they always spoke Spanish so he was not learning English.
Maura O'Keeffe (62) gave up her card game on Tuesdays to teach English to immigrants. "I'm a fairly busy person myself but I wouldn't miss it for anything," she said. At the previous night's class she had met a mechanic who has been here 15 months but spoke very little English. "He doesn't know how to go to the doctor or how to shop."
The youngest volunteer is 12-year-old Darragh Brannigan who occupies the children who accompany their parents to the classes.
Rima Piurkiene from Lithuania said the classes had made a big difference to her family.
