The Catholic Hierarchy and the Irish University Question,1880-1908

Abstract

The ‘Irish university question’, as it came to be known, claimed the attention of the most powerful forces in Ireland: the Catholic church, British legislators and influential lay people, all of whom were aware of its potential impact on its beneficiaries, the future ruling class of Ireland. This article questions the simplistic terms in which the Irish university question is conventionally understood; it challenges the notion that the issue was simply a conflict between a succession of unyielding British governments and an intransigent Catholic hierarchy which refused to give up its demand for a state-funded Catholic university. This understanding of the issue ignores the significant lay contribution to the debate and also obscures the intricacies of a highly complex political and social question. The Irish university question in fact prompted numerous attempted settlements, bitter debate and deep dissension within the Catholic hierarchy. It also led eventually to unprecedented compromise when all the major participants in the debate agreed finally in 1908 to the establishment of two new universities which reflected political and religious divisions in Ireland.