The Catholic Association, founded in 1823 by Daniel O'Connell, embraces other aims besides Catholic emancipation—that is, the opportunity for Irish Catholics to become members of parliament—
to better Irish Catholics, such as: electoral reform, reform of the Church of Ireland, tenants' rights, and economic development.

Beginning at a meeting of thirteen people at a bookseller's house, on Capel Street in Dublin, this is the latest in a series of similar associations formed over the previous ten years or so; none of these had prospered.

Like the other associations, this new association is composed mainly of the middle-class elite: the annual subscription amounting to a guinea, an amount equivalent to what an average farmer pays for six months' rent.