Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If I could, I wish to speak on my amendment that was ruled out of order. We have discussed this previously. The amendment I proposed has been ruled out of order, but I ask that the Minister of State would give some consideration to the evidence provided in a written submission by Professor Deirdre Ahern. She maintains it is not good practice for a one-person authority to exist and that we should be moving towards what she suggests, which is a minimum of two and an upper limit of five. My amendment was ruled out of order because there is a charge on the Exchequer, but it is open to the Minister to bring forward an amendment himself to address this. I am still a bit lost as to the reason for proceeding as outlined in the Bill. I do not think any of us would believe that one person alone is sufficient. A minimum of two and an upper limit of five is very reasonable.

I wish to make one point on audits in co-operatives and how they relate to the Bill. We know audits can be very expensive. They range in cost between €1,000 and €5,000. They take up huge resources and can take a considerable amount of time. They will cause a problem for co-operatives in particular. It is my intention to bring forward an amendment to the Bill on Report Stage to deal with that. I want to flag that to the committee.

I appreciate my amendment was ruled out of order, but I still think there is merit in it. I would welcome the views of the Minister of State on the idea that an authority with one person is enough. We should consider having a minimum of two persons with an upper limit of five, if possible.