Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Section 11 provides for the removal of the requirement for societies to submit at least once in every three years a return to the members and their holdings to the registrar. It is known as the triennial return. The co-operative sector has sought the abolition of the requirement and argue that the information is out of date too quickly to be useful, and imposes an unnecessary administrative burden on societies. There is general agreement that the return serves no useful purpose and, accordingly, it is proposed to remove the requirement. The removal of the requirement is balanced by the provision in section 10(g) for a right for non-members to inspect the books containing the names of members and their holdings in shares at the registered office of the society. Members already have a similar right.

This section is modelled on the like section in the Companies Acts. Information is therefore available to both members and non-members on a current information basis, which would render the triennial return unnecessary. Section 11 relates to the industrial and provident societies, that is, co-operatives and societies that are not friendly societies.