The Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment will meet today (Wednesday, December 14) to discuss new draft legislation for the cooperative sector.
Officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will appear before the committee as part of its pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Co-Operative Societies Bill 2022.
The meeting will take place in Leinster House between 9:30a.m and 12:30p.m.
Legislation
The proposed bill will provide a specific legislative framework for co-ops for the first time.
The farthest-reaching reform for the sector in over 130 years will introduce modern corporate governance, financial reporting and compliance requirements for the sector.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar previously said that the legislation, which reflects the approach adopted in the Companies Act 2014, will make co-ops more attractive to investors.
The draft bill include provisions to make it easier to establish and operate a cooperative society by reducing the minimum number of founding members from seven to three.
Smaller co-ops will be provided with audit exemptions and co-ops will be given flexibility around what rules they adopt.
Committee
Speaking ahead of this morning’s meeting, Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment chair, Deputy Maurice Quinlivan, said:
“We welcome the opportunity to begin pre-legislative scrutiny in this area as reform is long overdue.
“Cooperatives have operated in Ireland for many years and serve the interest of their members rather than shareholders but the laws governing co-ops have not kept with the times.
“The general scheme of the Co-operative Societies Bill 2022 provides for a specific legislative framework for co-operative societies for the first time, with societies registering under the legislation being required to adhere to the cooperative ethos.
“It will consolidate and modernises existing provisions and introduces modern corporate governance, financial reporting and compliance requirements, thereby making co-operatives more attractive to investors,” Deputy Quinlivan said.