Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the legislation currently applicable to the co-operative movement; and his views on the movement as an area for development by this Government [9047/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts (1893–1978) is the legislation under which most co-operative organisations operate in Ireland. However, a co-operative may also register as a company (in which case the terms of the Companies Acts (1963-2009) apply. Credit Unions, which are savings and loans co-operatives, were a category of industrial and provident society, but since the Credit Union Act 1997 they now operate under a wholly separate legal form with its own legislative system. In the Programme for Government, the Government committed to promoting "a greater appreciation of the co-operative model as a distinct form of organisation, ensure a level playing field between co-operatives and the other legal options for structuring enterprise activities, and provide a constructive framework for the full potential of the co-operative model to be realised...".

My responsibility lies in the legislative provision for co-operatives in general. Last year, I secured the agreement of Government to draft legislation to ease the regulatory burden on co-operative societies and to make it easier to start up and run a co-operative as an alternative form of enterprise organisation. I hope to publish this Draft Bill during 2012.

Any initiatives to facilitate or promote the development of co-operatives in particular sectors, for example, child care, education, housing, energy retro-fitting, environmental protection, would be a matter for my colleagues in the respective Government Departments.