Every primary school student should be made to learn a foreign language, with a wider range of languages also available to second-level students, according to the employers' body Ibec.
As approximately 2,000 Leaving Certificate students prepare to sit their Spanish exam today, Caroline Nash, assistant director of enterprise with Ibec, said consideration should also be given to making Irish an optional subject at second level.
This could ensure those students who wished to study Irish after primary school did so for the right reasons, and would increase the possibility of other students taking an extra foreign language, she said.
According to Ibec, last year only 4 per cent of students who sat a foreign language paper took Spanish, compared to 75 per cent who took French.
This is despite the fact there are an estimated 332 million native Spanish speakers in the world compared to just 72 million native French speakers. Only 20 per cent sat the German exam, while fewer than 1 per cent took the Italian paper.
"The range of languages available in secondary schools needs to better reflect the reality of modern global communications," Ms Nash said. "Language is not simply a means of communication, it is a very important means of establishing and maintaining relationships with people."
Ireland came last in a list of 11 countries included in the most recent OECD indicators on language learning at primary level, Ms Nash said.
But a recent report from the Enterprise Strategy Group, entitled Ahead of the Curve, noted that the ability to negotiate and transact business in languages other than English is a "basic requirement" that must be addressed here.
Ms Nash said Ibec believed language-learning should begin at the earliest possible age if this was to be achieved.
"Currently, there are 390 primary schools offering foreign languages as part of the primary schools' project in modern languages," she added. "This number needs to increase so that all primary school children get the best possible start.
"The Government's modern languages in primary schools' pilot programme should be integrated into the mainstream curriculum and made available to all primary schools."