With its roots in the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, ICOS promotes commercial co-operative businesses and enterprise, across multiple sections of the Irish economy.
The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS) was founded by Sir Horace Plunkett in 1894 to provide an overarching organisational structure for the numerous small agricultural cooperatives in Ireland at the time.
[1] By the mid-twentieth century, co-operativism had greatly expanded in Ireland, and had come to embrace many businesses and groups outside agriculture.
[3] Some of the largest businesses in Ireland, such as Aryzta, Tirlán and Kerry Group, are members of ICOS.
[4] ICOS has evolved to serve the co-operative sector in seven core categories: The organisation has offices in Dublin, Cork and Brussels.