The Irish University Bill formed part of the panorama of initiatives to provide more adequate provision of university education in Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Bill was announced by British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

 in February 1873. It proposed to establish a new single university, based in Dublin, that would comprise Catholic and other colleges without public endowment as well as Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

 and two of the then Queen's Colleges, the latter three with their endowments continued. It was defeated in 1873 by an adverse majority of three votes in the House of Commons, having foundered because of a combination of interests by opposing parties.

A related Bill with different provisions did pass in 1879 under the Disraeli administration.