Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I was struck, while listening to one of the previous speakers, by the fact that the phenomenon we are describing as herding, group-think and mania predates the bank crisis in the political culture of the State. I was struck by this when I heard a Member from the Fianna Fáil benches talk about the jeopardy that entry into the eurozone brought on the State. He recalled the time of the Maastricht treaty and its passage. I have a clear recollection of that time. When we were making a momentous decision about our currency and our sovereignty there was no debate. It did not happen in the public domain but worse, it did not happen within politics. The former Taoiseach, Mr. Albert Reynolds, went to Brussels-----

See this speech in context