Irish Cooperative Organisation Society
Irish Co-Op Organisation Society
The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) is a unifying force for the Irish co-operative movement. ICOS core business is to provide vision, leadership and value to the co-operative movement in Ireland. They use their collective voice to put the needs of the co-operative movement and their member co-ops to the forefront of what they do. They draw upon the pioneering, innovative and tenacious spirit of their founding members to help strengthen their co-operatives operating in today’s ever changing and competitive world.
ICOS member co-operatives and their associated companies collectively have over 150,000 individual members, employ >12,000 people in Ireland (a further 24,000 abroad) and have a combined turnover of almost €15 billion. Starting from agriculture co-op roots, and the vision of their founding President, Sir Horace Plunkett in 1894, ICOS today has evolved to serve the co-operative sector in seven core categories, namely:
- Multipurpose dairy co-ops
- Livestock sector co-ops
- Store, trade and wholesale co-ops
- Service-related co-ops
- Community-oriented, culture and leisure co-ops
- Food, fishing and beverage co-ops
- Advisory and education-related co-ops
For more information visit http://icos.ie/