Feargal Quinn (Independent)
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One thing we did not mention in regard to exports in particular is the frustrating inability of most Irish people to speak another language. There have been some great success stories and An Bord Bia have great representatives. My wife and I have five children and we sent them all to school in France for a short term when they were about 13 years of age. It is a dangerous thing to do, because my two girls fell in love with Frenchmen and are now married to them. My daughter Gilliane lives in France. She has a chain of smoothie bars around France, which is not an easy job. It is a real reminder to us that if we are going to encourage exports we must move learning a foreign language higher up on the agenda of everything we do in education.