Upstart

Ed Walsh returned to Ireland in 1970 to blunder into setting up an institute of education. He found a decaying mansion on a riverside site, gathered talented young people and secured funding from the World Bank and European Investment Bank to build what became the University of Limerick. Along the way, Ed made powerful enemies as he challenged official cant, traditional academics and clerical humbug. This is an inspiring, frank and often funny memoir by a passionate educational leader.

Ed Walsh, son of a Cork butcher, was a young man in a hurry when he returned to Ireland in 1970 to set up an institute of education when Limerick wanted a university. This inspiring, frank and often funny memoir, by a passionate educational leader, vividly describes the making of the first new university established in the Republic of Ireland.