I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to pilot this Bill through both the Seanad and the Dáil. I thank the Members of this House and the Seanad for their comments and what was a fruitful debate on the Bill during its passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Bill is not designed to solve all the issues affecting the co-operative sector but to address a number of particular issues that have been identified by the sector as being areas of most pressing concern. I thank the co-operative sector, particularly the umbrella bodies - the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, the National Association of Building Co-operatives and the National Federation of Group Water Schemes - as well as the Centre for Co-operative Studies, University College Cork. I also thank the other groups and individual contributors for their very positive engagement with the consultation process prior to the drafting of the Bill.
I am confident that the co-operative sector will warmly welcome the reduction in the administrative burden placed on it and the flexibility offered by the revised arrangements for annual returns. I believe that this Bill, coupled with the very significant reduction in fees charged by the Registrar of Friendly Societies - which was introduced in 2012, the UN International Year of Co-operatives - will assist the development of the co-operative model as a distinct form of organisation, as committed to in the programme for Government.
I also thank the officials in my Department who put a lot of work into putting the Bill together.