Repeal Association
Repeal Association
a movement founded by D. O’Connell in April 1840 in order to agitate for the repeal of the Anglo-Irish legislative union of 1801 and the restoration of the Irish Parliament. A left wing, grouped around the newspaper The Nation, was formed within the association in 1842. In opposition to the leadership, which regarded agitation for the repeal of the union as the only means of obtaining concessions from the British government, the left-wingers favored revolutionary methods. In 1847 they founded the Irish Confederation after splitting off from the Repeal Association. The association later disbanded.