Newman & Education

Newman Departs

In 1859 Newman approached Patrick Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel and one of the trustees of the university, with a proposal that he and the other trustees should purchase the University Church. The trustees had a number of reservations and it was not until 1864 that the matter was resolved and Newman received £2,400. Almost from the beginning the running costs of the church exceeded its income and the university trustees became anxious about this draw on university funds. Following negotiations with the Archdiocese of Dublin, the church was given to the parish of St Kevin, Harrington Street. The university continued to have full access to the church but it was no longer considered responsible for its financial liabilities. In 1974 University Church became the church of a newly constituted parish hived off from St Kevin's. By this time University College Dublin, more or less the successor of Newman's Catholic University, had moved from its nearby base at Earlsfort Terrace, where it had been established in 1908, to its new suburban campus at Belfield.