"That it is therefore our opinion a legislative measure should be sought for by us, to unite the medical profession of Ireland into a co-operation upon such principles as shall constitute them one National Faculty, and thereby identify in feelings and interests, the greater mass of provincial practitioners with their metropolitan brethren"[1]The group lapsed from 1846 to 1852.

In 1962, the Irish Medical Union was established, initially, as a sub-section of the IMA and then became a break-away group under the presidency of Dr Johnny Cox, a general practitioner and farmer in Delvin, County Westmeath.

Soon after this split the government agreed to engage in direct negotiations with the Irish Medical Association (IMA) without requiring it to formally register as a trade union.

Following the creation of the breakaway IMU in 1962 this effectively divided medical doctors' representation in the Republic of Ireland for over two decades weakening their influence on emerging healthcare public policy and the formation of the state's Health Boards structures in 1970.

The current President Dr Clive Kilgallen, is a Consultant Pathologist in Beaumont hospital Dublin.