The oldest among them, the Cork Irish Dance Teachers' Association, was founded in 1895 and played a key role in the establishment of the first oireachtas of the Gaelic League.

[1] In its early years of existence, An Coimisiún began to develop a system of examinations, centralised registration of teachers and a hierarchical competition structure.

This quickly developed into significant tension between the organisations and resulted in further moves by An Chomhdháil to assert its autonomy, including registering teachers in North America.

[5] This incident, along with increasing dissent with An Coimisiún's nationalist agenda and autocratic structure, led to the complete breakdown of relations between the two organisations.

[8][b] By early 1970, An Chomhdháil had created its own register of teachers and adjudicators, and in the following years quickly implemented a system of examinations similar to that of An Coimisiún.

[11] The cultural impact of the Riverdance performance at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest saw a significant increase in Irish dancing participation, as well as contributing to the globalisation of the competitive structure.

[13] A 2007 rule change banned the use of makeup for competitors under the age of 13, in response to broad criticism of Irish stepdance generally for its dependence on costuming and appearance.

[17] In 2017, An Chomhdháil's World Championships were expanded to use two competition stages for the first time, in response to a record number of entries in both solo and ceili dance events.

The qualifications available are:[19] There is also a system of 10 examinations for competing dancers over the age of 8, which test practical and theoretical knowledge and provide additional feedback for participants.