‘Nobody’s ideal’: Augustine Birrell, William Walsh and the evolution of the Irish Universities Act, 1908

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the process of negotiation, lobbying and parliamentary debate that brought the Irish universities legislation into being in the early 1900s against a backdrop of political and religious conflict. The complex interaction between British ministers and Catholic bishops before and throughout the legislative process dictated the terms of the university settlement. The principal decisions on the legislation were taken by Augustine Birrell, the chief secretary, in conjunction with Dr William Walsh, the Catholic archbishop of Dublin. Contrary to the argument that the legislation was a product of successful obstructionism by Trinity College Dublin, the outcome was a triumph for Walsh and a pragmatic majority among the bishops, who accepted a university that was formally non-denominational but would be Catholic in its cultural and ideological orientation. The universities settlement was a limited but historic compromise between British political elites of differing ideological persuasions and a majority of Catholic bishops.