Irish Co-operative Organisation and IFA celebrate 50 Years in Brussels
As Ireland celebrates 50 years’ membership of the EU this year, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has marked the opening of its Brussels office five decades ago in 1973.
ICOS (The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society) currently represents 130 co-operative enterprises in Ireland, with over 150,000 individual members, a combined turnover of €14 billion and employing more than 12,000 people.
It was a year earlier in January 1972 that then Taoiseach Jack Lynch and Foreign Affairs Minister Patrick Hillery signed the Accession Treaty in the Egmont Palace in Brussels. The following May, 83% of the electorate voted to join the then EEC. This came over a decade after Ireland’s first efforts to join the founding six. On January 1st, 1973, Ireland along with the UK and Denmark officially took their places as members.
ICOS and the IFA opened offices the same year to coincide with Ireland joining the EEC. Both organisations marked the occasion jointly together at a function held in Brussels last week.
Speaking at the weekend, ICOS President James O’Donnell said, “Over the past five decades, we have been able to represent our members’ best interests by being at the coalface of where the big decisions are made. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the European co-operative movement and to support each other in the spirit of co-operation and promoting enterprise.
“We are very proud to continue to have a strong presence here in Brussels and of being part of COPA COGECA. As we look ahead, we are entering very testing times for farmers and for co-ops. Many of the challenges, that are coming with force at us, are because of legislation being proposed and driven by the EU institutions. So, it has never been more important than it is now to underpin that strong united voice at the heart of the EU.”
Mr. O’Donnell also used the occasion to highlight the importance of fairness for farmers within the corridors of the EU Commission and the EU Parliament.
“We must insist that our voices are heard at Commission level, at Parliament level and at Council level. I urge those of you from the Commission and the parliament who are with us this evening to listen to our concerns and work with us in supporting the vital role which our farmers, food producers and co-ops play across Europe,” he stated.
The ICOS President and the board also held meetings with Irish MEPs in the European Parliament highlighting ICOS concerns in relation to several policy proposals currently being debated at Commission and Parliament level.
Back in 1973, ICOS was known as the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS). Both ICOS and the IFA foresaw the importance of having a presence in Brussels where all the big decisions would be made affecting the way of farming back home.
In 1973, the Irish economy was predominantly an agricultural one, dependent on exports to the UK. The population was just over three million and farmers accounted for 25% of the total workforce. Today that figure is just around 4%. That is skewed by the fact that, back then, most farms were small and extensively so.
The ICOS Annual Report for 1972 states that in that year, 124 dairy co-ops handled 485 million gallons, or about 2.1bn litres of milk. By 2023, that figure has more than quadrupled. The value of milk processed at accession to the EEC was equivalent to about €150 million. The value of Irish dairy exports last year was nearly 50 times that number. Entering the EEC gave farmers access to the single market and, over the past five decades, Irish agriculture and rural development has secured CAP payments of almost €65 billion.
ICOS and the IFA became part of the broader EU umbrella farm organisations COPA and COGECA and remain very much part of that family to this day. Greg Tierney was the first person to run the ICOS office in Brussels during those early days and today former RTÉ presenter Damien O’Reilly is the ICOS representative working at the heart of the EU district of Brussels.
ICOS remains as one of the few representative bodies to maintain a full-time presence in Brussels. Climate Change and the war in Ukraine is increasingly shaping policy proposals from the EU Commission which are coming thick and fast, and which will impact on food production across the EU until the end of the decade. Having an input into shaping policy is one of the great advantages for ICOS of being in Brussels, on behalf of its member co-operatives.
To mark the 50th anniversary, ICOS and the IFA held a joint reception in Brussels, attended by over 200 guests including ICOS President James O’Donnell, IFA President Tim Callinan, the Irish Ambassador to Belgium Kevin Conmy, former staff members, the board of ICOS, MEPs, EU Commission officials and international colleagues from COPA COGECA along with IFA staff, former staff and committee representatives.
EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness couldn’t attend in person, but sent a video message to congratulate both organisations on their Golden Jubilee.
