The Report of the Royal Commission on Trinity College, Dublin,
was issued as a Blue-book on Monday. Of the con- clusions and recommendations of the Commissioners, the most important are the following :—
That Trinity College has been and is a satisfactory organ for the higher education of the Protestant Episcopalian population of Ireland, but that it has never been, and is not now, to an extent adequate to the reasonable requirements of the country, an organ for the higher education of the Roman Catholic population. That while the Commissioners are divided in opinion in regard to the merits of the various schemes proposed to them involving the creation of a new college in Dublin acceptable to Roman Catholics, they, with one exception, recommend the establishment of such a college in Dublin. That it is impossible to recommend any such changes in the constitution of Trinity College as would render it acceptable to the Roman Catholic Episcopate."
The Commissioners are unanimous as to the third conclusion, but while four (Sir Thomas Raleigh, Chief Baron Panes, Dr. Coffey, and Dr. Douglas Hyde) recommend the remodelling of Dublin University by the admission of additional Colleges, three (Sir Edward Fry, Sir Arthur Riicker, and Mr. S. H. Botcher) prefer the creation of a new College acceptable to Roman Catholics in the Royal University. Finally, we may note that Mr. Kelleher, the only Roman Catholic member of the Trinity College, Dublin, staff on the Commission, strongly con. damns the establishment of a College for Roman Catholics in Dublin. We fear that the Report, so far from clearing the way for legislation, has only accentuated the inherent difficulties of the situation.
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