David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, for bringing this Bill to the House. I support the Bill and welcome its objective of reducing the legislative burden on co-operatives and enabling them to use the examinership process where necessary. This debate gives us an opportunity to reflect on the value of co-operatives in this State and to consider areas where we can make improvements.

Co-operatives are based on values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. They are underpinned by a number of core principles, including voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, members' economic participation, autonomy and independence, education and training, co-operation among co-operatives and concern for community. Co-operatives are enterprises that put people rather than capital at the centre of their business. In the context of a globalised and capitalistic world, it is welcome that we have co-operatives that do not necessarily put the interest of capital before the interests of communities and those who are at the centre of the business, including the workers. Senator Mullins referred to workers' co-operatives, which are a good example of how companies can create real value for the people who work in them and their communities.

Co-operatives are owned and democratically controlled by their members. Their decision making balances the need for profitability with the needs of members and the wider interests of the community. By providing opportunities for mutual aid and cost-effective service provision, co-operatives encourage local and individual self-reliance and offer strong alternatives to globalised, investor-driven businesses. They create and maintain employment, provide incomes and are socially conscious and responsive to members' needs. It is important to reflect on co-operatives in terms of their real value and worth. They are rooted in their communities, offer jobs to local people and are more stable as employers because their members live in the community. They are less likely to relocate to lower wage regions because they prefer to look for innovative ways to retain jobs and remain competitive. We have seen many companies that have outsourced production. One such company is Waterford Crystal, which manufactured crystal in eastern Europe prior to its closure because costs and wages were lower there. If the company had been a workers' co-operative it would have come up with innovative strategies to stay in business and preserve employment in Waterford. Businesses that are owned by venture capitalists will seek the fastest buck and the highest profit rather than support communities or job creation locally.

Co-operatives create wealth in their communities through local ownership and they provide stability and services in areas that are not profitable for private enterprise. The co-operative model of enterprise can be employed in any business activity. Co-operatives also exist in traditional economic sectors. This country has a long-standing and strong co-operative base in agriculture, fisheries and consumer and financial services.

We now have it in housing and in other areas of production. Co-operative activity spans a diverse number of sectors, including health care, child care, social care, schools, tourism, utilities and transport. The main types of co-operative in this country are consumer co-operatives, producer co-operatives, agricultural co-operatives, community co-operatives and worker co-operatives. Worker co-operatives are worth dwelling on, as are worker-controlled service enterprises. We hear much about the social economy and co-operatives fit very much into that very broad term. Worker co-operatives, which are central to that, are initiated by worker owners or by agencies representing their interests. By converting from a private enterprise, where viable, and with the help and encouragement of private owners, worker co-operatives can work. Waterford Crystal is an example of where that did not happen, but there are instances in which companies have been taken over by the workers - a worker buy-out - and they were able to keep the companies going and retain jobs. Senator Mullins mentioned them earlier. This is something we should encourage and facilitate much more where we can. Perhaps that would help to sustain more jobs in this State and reduce the high unemployment we have.

There are some interesting figures in regard to co-operatives generally. More than 800 million people are members of co-operatives across the globe. Some 120 million member co-operatives own 160,000 co-operative enterprises, providing jobs to 5.4 million citizens across the eurozone, which is a huge figure. Co-operatives provide 100 million jobs worldwide, 20% more than multinational enterprises. In 1994, the livelihoods of almost 3 billion people were made secure by co-operative enterprises. There are 183 co-operative enterprises, 156,000 co-operative members and 18,869 co-operative employees based in Europe.

Argentina is a good example of using co-operatives to the advantage of the overall economy. As we know, in 2001, Argentina suffered a very real crisis with a devaluation of its currency, which was followed by very high levels of unemployment, even higher than we had at the height of economic crash in this State. It currently has 12,670 co-operative societies, with more than 9.3 million members employed. It placed much emphasis on, and gave much support to, ensuring co-operatives worked and thrived.

At a time when significant numbers of industries and multinational corporations are moving to other countries in order to take advantage of low labour costs, the consequence has been growing unemployment, which we have seen in particular in rural areas. Co-operatives provide direct employment as well as seasonal and casual work. They are often the only provider of services in rural communities given that traditional companies often find it too costly to invest. That fits into what I spoke about earlier in regard to the social economy.

There is much more we could say, and perhaps this is an area on which the Minister of State might come back and take statements so we can have a fuller debate on co-operatives. The Bill is straightforward, necessary and helpful and I support it for those reasons. I also wanted to put on record my support for the co-operative sector and the social economy sector generally.