Dissension, denominationalism and deep division characterised the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century debate about reform of higher education in Ireland. The establishment of the non-denominational Queen’s Colleges in 1845 marked the beginning of the protracted and sometimes bitter Irish University debate which claimed the attention of the most powerful forces in Ireland: the Catholic hierarchy, successive British governments and lobbyists of varied denominational and philosophical stripes, all of whom understood that its role in the development of the expanding Irish middle classes was a matter of the highest importance.
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History
