The hospital was established by Mother Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Catholic order Religious Sisters of Charity, at the Earl of Meath’s former home at 56 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, in 1834.

The hospital was open to all who could afford its services, irrespective of their religious persuasion.

Florence Nightingale, famously was rejected twice there for a post as a trainee nurse.

It was legally registered as a company on 28 March 1927.

It was subsequently moved to its current site in Elm Park in 1970, and in 1999 was renamed St. Vincent’s University Hospital, to highlight its position as a principal teaching hospital of University College Dublin.

Along with St. Michael’s Hospital and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, it is part of the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

The first kidney transplant in Ireland took place in there on 19 December 1963.