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

I want to ask our guests for their views on the scope for growth for workers' co-operatives. I am sure they are more than aware that there is legislation in train to reform the area of co-operatives. As they will know and as I know, the co-operative model has been found to be very productive and highly resilient across Europe, which is very relevant to the conversation we are having now. The model is also competitive. Countries such as Scotland, France, Italy and Spain make great us of co-operatives. What role do our guests see for workers' co-operatives in our economy into the future? Perhaps we could focus on the medium term rather than the long term. I think we all agree that workers' co-operatives are a good idea. I want to understand how our guests think co-operatives might fit in terms of their development models and plans for the future.