Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister think there should be other changes to facilitate the development of co-operatives? For example, I think the minimum number of members required is seven. Could that be reduced? Could there be a lower number for a group of people who want to start in a co-operative way? Are there changes we could make, while I know this goes into other territory relating to the Finance Act, to the Companies Acts, for example, to facilitate the development of co-operatives? I think many people were shocked at a report published in The Irish Independentrecently about the credit union movement and warnings about what could happen to it. As the Minister knows better than anyone, the credit union movement has consolidated immensely over recent years. Many unions have joined together and so on. There seems to be a necessity for the Government to give the credit union movement additional powers, particularly relating to housing finance, to become a key actor in the housing area. It could also give additional powers to support small and medium enterprises, given that there are 12,000 to 15,000 volunteers and workers in the credit union movement, the members of which have immense assets of between €12 billion and €14 billion which could be used in the housing industry, for example.

See this speech in context