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.
References
Breathnach, D., & Ní Mhurchú, M. (n.d.). Mac an Bheatha, Proinsias (1910–1990). Ainm.ie. https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1560
Coleman, M. (2009). O’Farrelly, Agnes Winifred. Dictionary of Irish Biography. https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.006741.v1
Coolahan, J. (2017). Towards the era of lifelong learning: A history of Irish education 1800–2016. Institute of Public Administration.
Ferriter, D. (2009). Hayden, Mary Teresa. Dictionary of Irish Biography. https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.003867.v1
Harford, J. (2008). The admission of women to the National University of Ireland. Education Research and Perspectives, 35(2), 44–56.
Harford, J. (2020). Engendering the historiography of the professoriate: Reflections on the role and legacy of Professor Mary Hayden (1862–1942). Paedagogica Historica, 56(6), 807–818.
Irish, T. (2015). Trinity in war and revolution. Royal Irish Academy.
Lee, J. (1988). Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and society. Cambridge University Press.
Mac Mathúna, S. (2008). National University of Ireland, Galway. In T. Dunne, J. Coolahan, M. Manning, & G. Ó Tuathaigh (Eds.), The National University 1908–2008: Centenary essays (pp. 63–86). UCD Press.
Martin, P. (2011). The political career of Michael Tierney, 1920–44. Irish Historical Studies, 37(147), 412–426.
Maune, P., & Edwards, T. C. (2013). MacNeill, Eoin (John). Dictionary of Irish Biography. https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.005283.v1
McCartney, D. (1983). The National University of Ireland and Eamon de Valera. University Press of Ireland.
McCartney, D. (1999). UCD – A national idea: The history of University College Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.
Morrissey, T. J. (1983). Towards a national university, William Delany SJ. Wolfhound.
Murphy, J. A. (1995). The college: A history of Queen’s/University College Cork 1845–1995. Cork University Press.
Newman, J. H. (1852). Discourses on the scope and nature of university education addressed to the Catholics of Dublin. James Duffy.
Rigney, William, J. (1995). Bartholomew Woodlock and the Catholic University of Ireland, 1861-79. Ph.D dissertation, UCD.
Tröhler, D. (2024). Nation-state. In B. Warf (Ed.), The encyclopedia of human geography (pp. 1–10). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25900-5_29-1
Walsh, J. (2008). Eamon De Valera 1921–75. In T. Dunne, J. Coolahan, M. Manning, & G. Ó Tuathaigh (Eds.), The National University 1908–2008: Centenary essays (pp. 135–145). UCD Press.
Walsh, J. (2018). Higher education in Ireland, 1922–2016: Politics, policy and power – A history of higher education in the Republic of Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan.
Walsh, J. (2022). ‘Nobody’s ideal’: Augustine Birrell, William Walsh and the evolution of the Irish Universities Act, 1908. History of Education, 51(3), 346–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2021.1992024
Walsh, T. (2024). From subordinate to preeminent: Irish language curriculum policy for primary schools in the 1920s. In N. Volmering, C. M. Dunne, J. Walsh, & N. Ó Murchadha (Eds.), Irish in outlook: A hundred years of Irish education (pp. 107–131). Peter Lang.
Archival Material
Dáil Éireann. (1924–1929). Dáil debates.
Department of the Taoiseach. (1926). TSCH/3/S2409 [Government file]. National Archives of Ireland.
Department of the Taoiseach. (1932). TSCH/3/S6240 [Government file]. National Archives of Ireland.
Department of the Taoiseach. (1947, January 31). Report of the Interdepartmental Committee to the Minister for Finance (TSCH/3/S14018A) [Government report]. National Archives of Ireland.
Dublin Diocesan Archives. (1908–1921). Papers of Dr. William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin (NUI 1–14).
Dublin Diocesan Archives. (1908–1921). Papers of Dr. William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin (NUI 2/23).
Irish Times. (1924–1943). Articles published between 1924 and 1943.
National University of Ireland. (1908–1943). Senate minutes. National University of Ireland.
Oireachtas Éireann. (1929). University College Galway Bill. Stationery Office.
Oireachtas Éireann. (1955). Report of the Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation accounts 1952–53. Stationery Office.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Symphony