ABSTRACT
Rebuilding the Repeal Organisation Was a slow task. As late as the summer of 1842, O’Connell was full of despair, yet that year was to see the beginning of a dramatic growth of the organisation with its repeal wardens in every Catholic parish. At the weekly meeting of the Repeal Association, in Dublin, O’Connell played on these themes in many combinations, but the basic lesson remained the same; the removal of the Act of Union was the only sure way to social and economic progress and reform. The Repeal Association was in many ways a continuation of O’Connell’s political organisations of the eighteen-twenties and thirties under another name. The main interest was concentrated on the Poor Law and the possible reorganisation of the fever hospitals and public dispensaries, which were largely controlled by private subscribers though in receipt of public monies.
