Catholic University of Ireland
The Catholic University of Ireland was a private Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its associated colleges which were nondenominational; Cardinal Cullen had previously forbidden Catholics from attending these "godless colleges".
Despite the international reputation of the founding Rector, John Henry Newman, the university failed to attract sufficient funding and students before 1880.
Queen's University of Ireland
The Queen's University of Ireland was established formally by royal charter on 3 September 1850, as the degree-awarding university of the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway that were established in 1845 "to afford a university education to members of all religious denominations" in Ireland.
The Tudor Gothic quadrangle of the former Queen's College, Cork was built by Sir Thomas Deane
The main building of Queen's College Belfast, named after its designer, Charles Lanyon, and built in 1849
The quadrangle of the former Queen's College Galway is dominated by a clock tower