Irish co-operatives will see their fees significantly drop under new legislation to be introduced by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation today.

Currently co-operatives operating in Ireland face higher fees than other corporate entities in relation to certain administrative procedures, including registering as a new co-operative or changing a registered office.

The new fee structure unveiled today will result in cuts of between 33-80 per cent for co-operative entities. Specifically, fees for five processes are being slashed.