S.I. No. 74/1988:

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES REGULATIONS, 1988.

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES REGULATIONS, 1988.

I, ALBERT REYNOLDS, Minister for Industry and Commerce in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 2 , 3 , 4 and 8 of the Friendly Societies (Amendment) Act, 1977 (No. 17 of 1977) with respect to which, pursuant to section 10 of the said Act, a draft has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving of that draft has been passed by each such House, hereby make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Friendly Societies Regulations, 1988, and shall come into operation one month after the day on which they are made by the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

2. In these Regulations--

"the Act of 1966" means the Credit Union Act, 1966 (No. 9 of 1966),

"the Principal Act" means the Friendly Societies Act, 1896.

3. (1) This Regulation applies in relation to every registered society in respect of which the Registrar of Friendly Societies certifies that it is a society--

( a ) which is a specially authorised society within the meaning of section 8 (5) of the Principal Act,

( b ) whose objects are within the purposes set out in the authorisations of the 16th day of May, 1876, and the 23rd day of April, 1903, and

( c ) whose funds, notwithstanding anything in section 44 of the Principal Act, are invested solely in trustee authorised investments.

(2) Section 46 of the Principal Act shall have effect as if--

( a ) "£5,000" were substituted for "two hundred pounds" in paragraph (b), and

( b ) "£2,500" were substituted for "fifty pounds" in paragraph (c).

(3) Each society in relation to which this Regulation applies shall, immediately after the first annual general meeting of the society to be held on or after the commencement of these Regulations, have a supervisory committee.

(4) In this Regulation "trustee authorised investment" means an investment specified in section 1 of the Trustee Act, 1893, as amended by section 1 of the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Act, 1958 , as varied by order under section 2 of the Trustee (Authorised Investments) Act, 1958 , and which (except for securities of the Government and securities guaranteed as to capital and interest by the Minister for Finance) stands so varied before the 1st day of February, 1987.

4. (1) Every registered society shall cause to be kept proper books of account of or relating to--

( a ) all moneys received and expended by the society,

( b ) the matters in respect of which such receipt and expenditure takes place, and

( c ) the assets and liabilities of the society,

and such accounts shall be kept in relation to each year in the period of six years preceding the current financial year of a society or in relation to the period since the registration of the society, whichever is the shorter.

(2) A registered society shall be taken not to have complied with this Regulation if the books of account do not give a true and fair view of the society's affairs and explain its transactions.

5. (1) The committee of management of a registered society shall lay before the annual general meeting of the society--

( a ) an account of the income and expenditure of the society for the period (in the case of the first account) since the registration of the society and (in any other case) since the preceding account, and

( b ) a balance sheet.

made up in every case to the end of the most recent financial year of the society.

(2) Every account of the income and expenditure of a registered society shall give a true and fair view of the income and expenditure of the society for the relevant financial year and every balance sheet of a society shall give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the society at the end of the relevant financial year.

(3) Reference in this Regulation to an account of income and expenditure shall include references to an account of profit and loss.

6. A person shall not audit the accounts of a registered society for the purposes of section 26 of the Principal Act unless he is qualified, under the provisions for the time being in force, for appointment as a public auditor.

7. Each section of the Principal Act mentioned in column (1) of the Schedule of these Regulations is hereby amended in the manner specified in column (2) of that Schedule opposite the mention of that section in column (1).

SCHEDULE

Regulation 7

Increase of Certain Amounts Specified in Principal Act

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 6th day of April, 1988.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Industry and Commerce.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations:

( a ) increase the financial limits on deposits with, and loans by, Specially Authorised Loan Societies registered in accordance with section 8 (5) of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, and which are governed by section 46 of that Act,

( b ) require Specially Authorised Loan Societies to have Supervisory Committees,

( c ) stipulate the contents of the accounts of all registered societies, provide for the accounts and balance sheet to be laid before the annual general meeting of those societies and require the audit to be carried out by a public auditor, and

( d ) increase certain financial limits which apply to registered societies other than Specially Authorised Loan Societies.