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Culture, Education, and Future
e‑ISSN 2980-2741 Open Access · CC BY 4.0
Vol. 3 · Issue 2 · 2025 Oct 17, 2025 Articles

Nation building, Gaelicisation and the National University of Ireland, 1908-45

JW
John Walsh Corresponding Trinity College Dublin walshj8@tcd.ie Ireland
Pages209-225 PublishedOct 17, 2025 LicenseOpen Access
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VOL 3 · ISS 2 · 2025 CEF Journal View issue

Abstract

Nation building both before and after the creation of the independent Irish State influenced the foundation and evolution of the National University of Ireland, which was positioned as crucial to the achievement of Catholic and nationalist objectives early in the twentieth century. This study illustrates the frequently significant tensions between Catholic and cultural nationalist narratives early in the lifetime of the university and the extent to which competing narratives around language, religion, and autonomous academic governance influenced the subsequent evolution of the NUI. University leaders adopted pragmatic, incremental responses to political and popular pressure for Gaelicisation under the Irish Free State, acting to safeguard institutional autonomy and the interests of the university while adapting to political and official demands. This unsentimental, pragmatic institutional response to Gaelicisation ultimately provoked significant conflict with cultural nationalist organisations, not least because the academic elite within the NUI successfully resisted the more transformative demands of the cultural nationalist movement.

Keywords

#Gaelicisation #university #nationalism #catholicism #academic

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