David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

Sticking to the theme of groupthink, we certainly had that in this House in recent weeks when we had discussions on the austerity treaty. There were 56 in favour and four against the treaty in this House, but that is not a reflection of events outside the Chamber in this State or across Europe. Looking at the elections in France, Greece, Germany and Italy, people voted against austerity and bank bailouts and voted for a growth strategy. Francois Hollande spoke about the need for a growth strategy and now the Taoiseach and Tánaiste are supporting those comments. We must put it up to those who are now coming around to the view that we need a growth strategy to spell out exactly what that will mean for the country.