Sir, - I refer to the current publicity about the late John Charles McQuaid, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. I should like it to be known that, when I was doing research for my MA in History at UCD from 1960 to 1968, Archbishop McQuaid refused permission for me to examine the papers of a previous archbishop, Dr Walsh. I had reason to believe that Archbishop Walsh's papers contained the acceptance, de facto, by the Catholic Hierarchy of the de jure non-religious character of the proposed university colleges of UCD, UCC and UCG. As permission was refused to me, I cannot say. Scholars, no doubt, will find out now.
I will add that, at that time, the Bishop of Limerick did give me permission to look at the papers of a previous bishop, Bishop O'Dwyer (much involved in the "university question"). In Bishop O'Dwyer's papers, I did find that Archbishop Dwyer had accepted that the new university colleges would be de facto of a Catholic disposition but not Catholic in theory. - Yours, etc.,
Patricia McCaffrey
Rathgar Road, Dublin 6.