Establishment
The Queen's Colleges (Ireland) Act 1845 (An Act to enable Her Majesty to endow new Colleges for the Advancement of Learning in Ireland) established the colleges with the intention that they would provide for Roman Catholic demands for university education, since Catholics did not generally attend Trinity College Dublin at that time, though there were no legal restrictions preventing them.
Nevertheless, at the prompting of Protestant interests the colleges were not permitted to give instruction in theology. The result was that the colleges became derided as the "godless colleges" — Pope Pius IX even went as far as saying they were "detrimental to religion" in an official condemnation — and this non-acceptance was articulated in the creation of the Catholic University of Ireland to rival the colleges.
In 1845 the Mayor of Limerick applied to have a Queen's College located in the city however Cork, Galway and Belfast were chosen.
The colleges were incorporated on December 30, 1845; and on October 30, 1849 they opened for students. A Board of Queen's Colleges was created to draw up regulations for the colleges, consisting of the President and Vice-President of each college.
Academic degrees were conferred by the chancellor and senate of the university with a status similar to those of other universities of the former United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
In 1866 the university considered examining and conferring degrees on students other than those of the Queen’s colleges, such as the Catholic Carlow College the St. Patricks College Carlow Report was conducted and the college was deemed to meet the suitable, however it was never enacted.
The Queen's College at Belfast became predominantly Protestant, unlike the colleges at Cork and Galway.
A number of significant figures in Irish public life participated in the governing senate of the university such as Sir Dominic Corrigan (Vice-Chancellor). Naturalist Robert Ball became secretary of Queen's University of Ireland in 1851
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