About

Notre Dame Dublin's motto is Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine, an Irish proverb that translates to "People live in the shelter of each other," reflecting our interconnectedness and reliance on community to survive and thrive. Our core focus is on building community, learning and growing together, through the soles of our feet.

Notre Dame in Ireland

Established in 1998 as Notre Dame's flagship study abroad program in Ireland, Notre Dame Dublin now offers undergraduate and postgraduate internship opportunities and supervised research experiences, summer study programs, seminar series for faculty and graduate students, conferences, public lectures and events, and facilitates several growing collaborations between the University of Notre Dame and Irish universities, institutions, and organizations.

Notre Dame Dublin, O'Connell House

Number 58 Merrion Square was home to the celebrated early nineteenth-century Irish Catholic political leader, Daniel O’Connell. Known as “The Liberator,” O’Connell led the battle for Catholic Emancipation, achieving full civil rights for Irish Catholics in 1829.

Notre Dame acquired the building in 2002 and spent the next two years restoring O’Connell House sensitively, preserving its heritage while meeting the academic, programmatic, and administrative needs of the University in Ireland. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, officially opened O’Connell House in 2004.

O’Connell House embodies all the elegance, charm, and heritage of a characteristic Dublin Georgian building. It is full of superb Irish art, artifacts, and period furniture for students and visitors alike to explore. A Harry Clarke stained glass window is the focal point of Saint Patrick’s Chapel, while the O’Connell Room boasts an outstanding collection of the works of Seamus Heaney. O’Connell House is home to two more libraries: the Friel Library—generously donated by Anne Friel, his wife, in 2019—and the Nanovic Library—an extensive collection of resources in Irish history, literature, and culture for student research.

Since 1998, Notre Dame Dublin has given our students the chance to study in the land of Joyce, Yeats, and Heaney. It has allowed them to experience a new Ireland – prosperous, increasingly diverse, and (through the work of its artists, intellectuals, and political leaders), increasingly influential in emphasizing human rights, peacemaking, and helping a world in need.

Notre Dame Dublin is the foundation of an expanding network of Notre Dame initiatives in Ireland, capitalizing on strong partnerships with the country’s top universities, cultural and governmental institutions, and private enterprise organizations.

Notre Dame Dublin’s priority areas of collaboration and research interest are in Irish studies, environmental science, engineering, education, policy, and international STEM research collaborations through the Naughton Fellowships.

Notre Dame Kylemore

Located in the Connemara region in the west of Ireland, Notre Dame Kylemore hosts ND students and faculty as they contemplate, research, and learn in a quintessentially Irish setting. Surrounded by dramatic landscape in the Connemara region, the Centre offers an idyllic setting to bring together scholars and students, Americans and Irish, the Church and academia. The Centre is located in an active Benedictine monastery and offers a true Irish immersion—opportunities to connect with the local community, to experience the culture, and to understand the history—all while living, studying, and praying within a faith-enriched space.

Founded in 2016, Notre Dame Kylemore is equipped with a 16-room residence hall, dining facilities, and communal space, and is a frequent host to groups and individuals who wish to experience the richness of Ireland.

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Newman Centre for Faith and Reason

The University of Notre Dame has served as steward to the Newman University Church in Dublin since 2017, and has founded there the Notre Dame–Newman Centre for Faith and Reason. Built by the Saint and now Doctor of the Church, Cardinal John Henry Newman, the University Church opened in 1856 and has since been an iconic landmark in Dublin’s city center and a testament to the harmony of faith and reason.

Before moving into O'Connell House, the original Notre Dame Dublin Centre was actually based next to University Church in Newman House, the original site of the Catholic University of Ireland, founded by St. Newman in 1852, the predecessor of University College Dublin.

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Notre Dame Dublin is part of the University of Notre Dame’s global network. Notre Dame Global oversees locations centered in Beijing, Dublin, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Kylemore, London, Mexico, Mumbai, Nairobi, Rome, Santiago, and São Paulo. These global locations create unique opportunities for Notre Dame to engage with the world and for the world to engage with Notre Dame through scholarly collaboration, undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as cooperative programs with governments, foundations, corporations, alumni, parents, and friends of the University.