Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I will say is that Ireland has been ranked 14th in the world in science, which is up from 36th place in 2003. We are continuously climbing there. We are investing in innovation and education, including postgraduate degrees, to ensure that we have researchers who are at the cutting edge of technology and innovation.

I never mentioned the word "excellent" - the Deputy did so. I never said that we were excellent.

We actually want to be better. We want more funding and we will keep our innovation programmes under review.