English and Irish were both compulsary for my entire primary and secondary education. I studied French for five years in secondary school (It was mandatory that you studied eithe French or German)



English and Irish, although my Irish is getting rustier all the time, it's been years since I've held a conversation in Irish so I may not be even fully fluent anymore. Not to mention that I always had difficulties understanding some Munster and Connaught dialects, but that could have been more to do with accents.



It's not so much a question of attention being paid as much as it is a question of how it is thought. Irish is a prime example. It is mandatory for Irish students to learn Irish throughout their primary and secondary education (i.e. for 13 years) yet very few students emerge from their education with any sort of working knowledge of the language. There are constant debates here about how we can improve the situation but nothing concrete ever comes of them.

Foreign languages should be thought in primary schools as it is at this age that students will most easily pick up a language. This wasn't done in my day but things could very well have changed since then.



It's not really surprising and as I speak neither French nor German I guess I should be thankful.