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In the turbulent centures that followed the Norman invasi-
on, several efforts were made to establish universities in
Ireland. In 1311, John de Leah, Archbishop of Dublin, obtained
a bull from Pope Clement V authorizing him to establish a uni-
versity in Dublin, but he died before anithing could be accom-
plished. An attempt was made in 1465 to found a university in
Drogheda; this was to be endowed, as far as the Prliament of
the England Pale could do it, with all the rights and privile-
ges of the university of Oxford. The parliament concerned was
presided over by Tomas, Earl of Desmond; two ears later he was
attainted and beheaded, his estates were confiscated, and once
more the idea of a university came to nothing.At last,in 1591,
the idea was realized.
TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
In that year a group of Dublin citixents obtained a char-
ter from Queen Elizabeth I incorporating Trinity College as a
mater universitatis. By this term they envisaged that a group
of university colleges would sterm from Trinity in the conti-
nental and English style;owing to the course of Tudor and sub-
sequent Irish history that ideal has not yet been realized.The
Corporation of Dublin granted to the new foundation the lands
and dilapidated buldings of the Monastery of All Hallows,lying
south-east of the sity walls Subscriptions were raised from
among the principal gentleman of each country, who had been
invited to assist the new college to the benefit of the whole
country, whereby Knowlege, Learning and Civility may be incre-
ased,to the banishment of barbarism,tumults and disorderly li-
ving from among them. A number of landed estates were secured
to the College out of the confiscations which followed the de-
feat northen Earls.
The university was designed to encourage English culture
in Ireland,and to promote the reformed religion in it's statu-
tory form,so that it's establishment afforded no opportunities
for higher education to recusant bodies, whether Catholic or
Dissenting. The college survived the storms of the Cromwellian
and Revolution periods, and settled down as the university of
the colonial ascendancy, taking it's tone from the new Whig
society,mainly mercantile and nouveau riche,which had been put
in power by the Williamite victory. Yet even in the religious
and political doldrums of the eghteenth century, the true uni-
versity and liberal spirit survived in Trinity,and it's alum-
ni included Swift,Berkeley, Bruke, Goldsmith, Grattan,and Wolf
Tone. Towards the close of the century there was an awakening
sense of independence and of patriotism in what had been a
colonial minority, with a consequent relaxation of the penal
code which had discriminated, in religion and culture, against
the native Irish and the Anglo-Irish majority; and after the
passage of the Catholic Relief Act,1793, Trinity abandoned the
exclusive character it had hith erto borne.
Since 1947, the College has received substantial grants
from the Irish State. Recent years have brought to the Univer-
sity a great diversity of students, wuth many of the undergra-
duates coming from Great Britan and from overseas.
The University is represented by the Chancellor,Vice-Chan-
cellor and Senate,whose main function is to confer degrees.The
College is governed by the Board of Trinity College.The assent
of the Board is required to all professional chairs and other
academic posts, and determines details of courses and examina-
tions. The Povost of the College is nominated by the Goverment
from one of three names submitted by the Board. Except in this
last respect,the University and the College enjoy complete au-
tonomy. The College Library is Great Britan and Ireland.
THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY of IRELAND.
Under the Queen’s College (Ireland) Act,1845,Colleges were es-
tablished by the Goverment at Cork, Galway and Belfast,to pro-
vide higher education on a non-denominational basis. Ufortuna-
tely, the character of these Colleges were felt to be out of
accord with Catholic educational principles, and after a storm
of public controversy they were condemned by the Hierarchy.
In 1854,the Catholic University of Ireland was established
by the Hierarchy, who invited John Henry Newman to be it's
first Rector. Newman, imbued with the liberal principles embo-
died in his celebrated Idea of a University, was not quite at
home amid the realities of Irish political and religious cont-
roversy, and his brave experiment failed. As 'Newman's Univer-
sity' was not recognized by the State,it could not confer deg-
rees,neither did it have any public endowment. Coriously, it's
best success was in medicine, for the College of Surgeons and
the Apothecaries’ Hall recognized the courses of study pursued
by the Catholic University Medical School students and admit-
ted them to the College and Hall examinations, thus to become
registered medical practitioners.
The Royal University was founded in 1879. This was merely
an examining body, set up mainly for the purpose of enabling
the students of the Catholic University to obtain recognized
degrees. In 1883,the Catholic University,henceforth to be cal-
led University College,Dublin, was placed in the charge of the
Society of Jesus, who maintained it succesfully until the pas-
sing of the Irish Universities Act,1908. This Act provided for
the dissolution of the Royal University and of Queen’s College,
Belfast, and for the foundation in their stead of two new Uni-
versities, one in Belfast which was to become Queen's Univer-
sity, and the other, in Dublin,the National University of Ire-
land. The two universities are self-governing institution ope-
rating under charter, autonomous as regards policy and admini-
stration, and appointing their own academic and administrative
staffs.
The National University of Ireland is a federal university,
with a central office in Dublin and three Constituent Colleges:
University College Dublin, University College Cork, University
College Galway; and one Recognized College, St. Patrick’s Col-
lege, Maynooth. Maynooth is a seminary for the training of Ca-
tholic'clergy. It was founded in 1795 and endowed by a Gover-
ment who, chastened by the French Revolution, recognized the
conservative and conserving character of the Irish priesthood.
In 1845 the Maynooth College Board of Trustees was incorpora-
ted by Statute, and in 1899 was invested by the Holy See with
authority to confer degrees in Philosophy, Theology, and Canon
Law.
The National University itself does not teach; the courses
for degrees are conducted by the Colleges which, in practice,
lay down their own programme and set their own examinations.
Courses are given in the various faculties,with certain excep-
tions,at each of the Constituent Colleges; and in Arts, Philo-
sophy and Sociology, Celtic Sudents, and Science at Maynooth.
Courses in Dairy Science are given only at University College
Cork;courses in General Agriculture and Veterinary Science are
(outside of Trinity College) confined to University College
Dublin.By the University Education (Agriculture and Dairy Sci-
ence) Act, 1926, the Royal College of Science and the Albert
Agricultural College were Transferred to University College
Dublin, which was empowered to continue the functions formerly
fulfilled by these institutions.
Like Trinity College, the National University receives,
through the Department of Education, financial assistance from
the State in the form of annual grants-in-aid, as well as non-
recurrent grants for capital purposes. Each of the Colleges is
a complete organism,with it's own Governing Body and full con-
trol of it's own finances.
RURAL DOMESTIC ECONOMY SCHOOLS.
There are twelve residental schools of Rural Domestic Eco-
nomy,seven of which operate under the Department of Agricultu-
re and Fisheries. The schools are privately owned,but the Sta-
te subsidized and subject to inspection in the same way as
agricultural colleges.Students are admitted from the age of 15
upwards.The course runs from September until June.The syllabus
comprises theoretical and practical instrustion in the follow-
ing subjects: - Poultrykeeping, Dairing, Cookery, Housewifery,
Dressmaking, Laundry, Arts and Crafts, Phisiology, Higiene,
First Aid and Home Nursing, Horticulture and general subjects.
At the end of the course, a standart examination compris-
ing written,oral and practical tests, is heid and certificates
are awarded to successful candidates.About 600 young women at-
tend these schools annually. Over 250 scholarships awarded by
County Committes of Agriculture, each year, are tenable at the
schools. In addition, capitation grants are payable for each
eligible pupil.Some pupils who complete the session at a rural
domestic economy school proceed to other studies, for careers
in Poultry Specialization, Farm Home Management, Domestic Sci-
ents,Hotel Management,or Nursing.The course at the schools is,
however, a good training for all future housewives.
The Munster Institute, Cork, under the Department of Agri-
culture and Fisheries, conducts advanced courses for selected
pupils from rural domestic economy schools:
1.A three year course in Farm Home Menagement.
2.A three year course in Poultry Specialization.
3.A one year course in Poultry Husbundry.
Girls who complete the three years courses are employed as
instructors by the Country Committees of Agroculture, or as
teachers. Girls who cmplete the year's course in Poultry Hus-
bundry are employed as technicians in the poultry industry.
ART SCHOOLS.
The Metropolitan School of Art began as an academy esta-
blished in 1746 by the Royal Dublin Society, for the promotion
of drawing and painting. During the first hundred years of the
School's existence,instruction was free of charge;and the four
departments of figure drawing,landscape and ornament,architec-
ture,and modeling,provided courses useful to sculptors, embro-
iderers, weavers, printers, silversmith and workers in other
crafts.In the ninteenth century, the School was successively
under the control of the Royal Dublin Society, the Board of
trade, the Department of Science and Art,and the Department of
Agroculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. Following
it's transfer to the last-named body, classes were established
in the principal artistic crafts, including metalwork and ene-
melling, mosaic, embroidery and woodcarving. The School also
aquired a high reputation for it's part in the development of
stained glass and for the felicitous influence which,under the
guidance of Sir William Orpen, it exerted on painting in Ire-
land. In 1924, control was assumed by the Department of Educa-
tion; an extension and development of the School, was establi-
shed.
The National College of Art is the principal institution
of the sistem of Art Education in Ireland as administered by
the Departmentt of Education. It's general purpose is to pro-
mote the advancement of Art,to advocate and maintain the high-
est artistic values in national culture, and to combine artis-
tic design with practical skill in the interests of industry.
There are three schools; the School of Design, the School of
Painting and the School of Sculpture,with a Preliminary School,
which includes an Upper and a Lower Division. In ths way, the
College provides for the study of the Fine Arts and of the De-
corative Arts and Crafts, and for the training of Art teachers
eligible for employment in post-primary schools. The College
has working arrangements with University ColIege Dublin and
with the Bolton Street School of Technology. It olso maintains
liaison with the National Library,the National Museum, and the
National Gellery of Ireland.
Outside Dublin,whole-time day course and part-time evening
courses are provided ay the Crawford School of Art, Cork, and
the Schools of Art in Limerick and Waterford.
To foster the study of the History of Art, Miss Sarah Pur-
ser and Sir John Purser Griffith established,in 1934,two equal
funds, one to be administered by Trinity College,and the other
by University College Dublin, the income from which provides
Travelling Scoolarships. and prizes to be competed for every
year, alrtenately in each University. Extra-mural courses are
given at University College Dublin,which College also provides
courses leading to a degree in the History of European Paint-
ing taken with another subject. Lectures are also provided,
mainly for post-primary students, in the National Gallery.
