Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

As I stated, the Department receives many representations from many people involved in civic society who have expressed their concern that for Ireland to remain competitive at a global level, our mathematical achievements should be closely monitored. We have not exactly covered ourselves in glory in the recent past and the Minister is keen to address the issue. When we see the evolution of new methods of teaching mathematics and an improvement in teachers' skills in imparting mathematical knowledge, we will see a vast improvement in a short timeframe.