Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I did not hear the Leader indicate what time he expects Committee Stage of the Charities Bill to conclude today. Perhaps he will be good enough to tell us.

We know the European Central Bank is expected to reduce interest rates today by between 0.5% and 0.75%. That will have a real impact on people with tracker mortgages and it has the potential to help those on variable mortgages. When rates were reduced last month, the Leader and others put pressure on many of the banks and, as a result, those savings were passed on — I benefited to the tune of approximately €100. This is hard-earned money which people need in their pockets. I once again ask the Leader to use his office to put pressure on the banks to pass on the mortgage rate cut from the ECB this afternoon.

I welcome the early opening of the new M8 Cullahill to Cashel bypass on Monday next, which I presume will be opened by the Minister, Deputy Dempsey. It is 40 km of new road which will help to speed up journey times in the south and will also help to reduce accident rates. We are still quite behind when it comes to infrastructure. Other countries have had a motorway network for some time. The first motorway was opened 50 years ago this week in Preston. It is very smooth on the surface, very much like somebody else who is 50 years old this week, our leader in the Seanad, Senator Alex White. Will the Leader agree that, as Senator White enters his sixth decade, he is improving with age and that his best years are still ahead of him?