Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

As the Tánaiste knows, the news from Germany yesterday was that opposition to austerity and the austerity treaty is growing. The peoples of France, Greece, Italy and Germany are opposed to austerity. Indeed, politicians in some of those countries are prepared to take a stand. As the Tánaiste knows, the Bundestag has needed to abandon its plans for ratification of the treaty because Labour's sister party has done the right thing and called the treaty what it is, namely, a bad deal.

We know about the divisions within Fianna Fáil over the treaty, but there are divisions within the Tánaiste's party as well. According to the Labour deputy mayor of Galway city, Ms Collette Connolly, many members of that party share her opposition to the austerity treaty but will not say so publicly.

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