Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their presentations. While the ACCA commented only on the annual returns and audits elements of the Bill, the association and the Centre for Co-Operative Studies are broadly in agreement on the legislation. There is an acceptance among those putting forward the legislation of the need for amendments to clarify the annual statements dimension.

Our guests from ICOS will have listened to the presentation from Ms Carroll. I appreciate that the organisation is focused heavily on the area of agriculture and food. Does it accept her point that ICOS's model of co-operatives, along with that of credit unions, requires a wider membership base or economies of scale for it to succeed?

There are other models of co-operatives that could, and would, need a reduction in the minimum number of seven. The witnesses will be aware of the international comparison in this regard. In a previous hearing, Deputy Clare Daly argued the ceiling here is a barrier because in comparison with other countries where the threshold is lower, the co-operative model is not working in Ireland. I would like to hear the witnesses' response to those arguments and to the points raised by Ms Carroll from the Centre for Co-operative Studies.