Dairy Co-op Issues in Ireland

With Special Reference to PLC Activities

PLC activity in Ireland's dairy sector has revived interest in what it means to be a shareholder, to be a member, and to be a supplier. It has also raised questions regarding the relevance of co-operatives in today's business world, and whether the long term interests of farmers will be damaged if the co-operative movement continues to be eroded. This book explores the possibility for dairy co-operatives to make organisational changes within the accepted co-operative context or whether modifications of co-operative principles are necessary for long term growth and survival. It also examines whether PLC activity is a short term or long term phenomenon and identifies a range of alternatives for co-operatives in resolving capital and share valuation problems.

Out of Print

Photocopy available

€5

Decision-making Processes in Irish Dairy Co-ops

Several years of work by Paul Mohn and Joan Buckley have been devoted to studying and teaching about the co-operative decision-making processes in Ireland. This book represents the culmination of that teamwork and looks at the co-operative decision-making process and influences on decisions rather than the results of actual decisions.

Out of Print

Photocopy available

€5

Co-op Guides

This series of twelve co-op guides deals with the steps involved in starting and running workers' and community co-operatives. Many of the booklets will also be of use to voluntary groups and community organisations. The topics covered in these booklets are:

Where Do We Start?

• Co-op Meetings
• Getting Information
• Market Research
• Planning for Survival
• Raising Money
• Co-op Rules OK
• Co-op Selling
• Dealing With the Media
• Co-op Workers' Rights
• Why Keep Books?
• Who Needs Professionals?

€8

Co-ops Work (video and guide)

This video features co-ops from all over Ireland involved in a broad range of activities from community publishing to shoe making. The workers speak for themselves and explain how they set up their co-op businesses, the problems they faced and how they dealt with them.

The video is in three parts. The first deals with Phoenix Co-ops, which arose from the ashes of closed factories; the second looks at young people and co-ops - can co-ops create jobs?; and in the third we see some new co-ops experiment with different ways of working.

An 80-page guide to using the video including details of the co-operatives featured accompanies the video.

€13

Workers' Co-operatives: Potential and Problems

This book represents a collection of papers that work towards promoting a better understanding of workers' co-operatives, highlighting their potential for job creation as well as showing obstacles to their formation. Issues covered include

• The role and development of workers' co-operatives in Ireland and the UK
• The establishment and support of workers' co-operatives
• Case studies of workers' co-operatives

€5

Plunkett and Co-operatives: Past, Present and Future

This is a collection of articles based on papers delivered to a public seminar and symposium held in 1982 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Horace Plunkett, founder of the Irish co-operative movement. The contributors include people involved in research on the history of the co-operative movement as well as those who have had practical experience of work within it. The subjects covered range between Plunkett and his ideas and aspects of the history of the co-operative movement.

Co-operative Housing in Ireland

This book is a collection of papers which provide a comprehensive overview of the various problems and prospects of the Irish Co-operative Housing Movement. The following are some of the issues examined

• Development and growth of the Irish Co-operative Housing Movement
• Application of co-operative principles to self-help housing
• Legislative and organisational problems facing housing co-operatives
• Local Authority policy towards housing co-operatives
• Sources of finance for housing co-operatives
• Housing co-operatives and urban renewal

€3

The Co-operative Idea

This book puts forward three fundamental characteristics of co-operation and suggests guidelines for co-operative structure and for the nature and quality of the co-operative process occurring within these structures. The guidelines are offered to stimulate debate on the nature of the co-operative process and to provide a framework which should help co-operators develop criteria to evaluate their co-operative activities.

€2.50

How to Start a Co-op

This is a simple, practical guide to starting a co-operative, useful to any group of people who would like to act together to solve a common problem or meet a common need. The guide is designed to help people along the various steps involved in forming a co-operative organisation.

€1