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

I apologise for interrupting Mr. Clancy but does Enterprise Ireland have a specific unit? Going back many years, and I am showing my age now, there used to be a specific co-operative development unit and it was very focused. It was not simply a case of saying a co-operative is a business and if you rock up to the business space we will deal with you as a business. I am specifically talking about the benefits in terms of resilience and all the rest of it. Is there a particular focus? Co-operatives are a business and that is fair enough. That is their job and they are in the business arena but they are a little different from other businesses.

I would argue they are significantly better than other businesses in some instances but not all. Is there a specific unit with a specific focus? Would Enterprise Ireland be planning to put something like that in place when this legislation goes through? I think we would agree that if the legislation goes through and precludes the development of co-operatives, we would all work together to make sure that does not happen. I do not think that is on the horizon. In the event that this legislation goes through and we know what it seeks to do, will Mr. Clancy’s organisation and Mr. McElwee’s organisation be able to come together and specifically focus on workers’ co-operatives because they are different and are not the traditional model?