National Association

National Association, formally instituted in Dublin in December 1864 to facilitate co‐operation between Irish Catholics and English radicals, specifically with a view to promoting disestablishment. The initiative had come from William J. O'Neill Daunt (1807–94), a former aide of O'Connell, who had established contact with John Bright and the English Liberation Society and then drawn in Archbishop Patrick Leahy of Cashel, John Blake Dillon, and a group of Dublin Liberals. The approval of Paul Cullen, archbishop of Dublin, as indicated by his attendance at the inaugural meeting, was hard won. Independent Opposition interests, including John MacHale, archbishop of Tuam, used the National Association as a forum in which to settle old scores with Cullen and others. The consequence was an extended and debilitating row over the rules of the association. The association's purpose triumphed with the election in 1868 of Gladstone, pledged to Irish disestablishment. However, the association contributed little directly to this. Dillon was elected to parliament in 1865 and made some use of the National Association's meetings in bringing the remnant of the Independent Opposition Party together in support of the emerging Liberal Party. Gladstone's appeal for Irish Catholics in 1868 transcended all existing organizational arrangements.

Richard Vincent Comerford