The Milltown Institute was also an Ecclesiastical Faculty with official designation by the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome.
The origins of the institute can be traced back to 1860, when the Jesuits in Ireland became a separate Province (since 1830 it had been a sub-province).
In 1993, the BA programmes in Theology and Philosophy and the National Diploma in Philosophical Studies joined the CAO system for applications to third-level courses; from 1994 degree students were eligible to apply for Higher Education Grants; and in 1995 students of NCEA courses became eligible for the government free fees initiative.
[6] 2001 saw the start of the MA in Applied Spirituality, validated by HETAC until NUI recognition in 2005; this programme moved to All Hallows College in 2012.
An undergraduate Bachelor of Theology programme in conjunction with the University of Wales, Lampeter,[7] was launched in September 2003.
[8] The KMI Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Anthropology degree was also recognised as a qualification for teaching religion in post-primary schools.
[7] Education Minister Mary Hannifan and NUI Chancellor Garret Fitzgerald attended the ceremony bestowing Recognised College status on Milltown.
Some of the holiding from the Jesuit Library were transferred to that library which also received a donation of spirituality books from All Hallows College given that Dr Michael O'Sullivan and Dr Bernadette Flanagan ran the spirituality programmes at All Hallows College and were the co-founders of SpIRE at Milltown Park.
[15] The sale included rare and important books bequeathed to the Irish province of the Jesuits by the bibliophile judge William O'Brien upon his death in 1899.
[18] Starting in August 2016, SpIRE in conjunction with the Waterford Institute of Technology, began to deliver an MA in Applied Spirituality from Milltown Park, Dublin.