Michael Nugent
Encyclopedia
Michael Nugent is an Irish writer and activist. He has written or co-written five books and the comedy musical play I, Keano
. He has campaigned on many political issues, often with his late wife Anne Holliday, and he is chairperson of the advocacy group Atheist Ireland. He argues that atheism
provides a better model of reality, and a better basis for morality, than believing in gods; that atheists can enjoy the benefits that many people get from religion, without the harmful effects; and that the state should be secular, promoting neither religion nor atheism. He writes a blog about happiness and atheism, and he supports Bohemians
and Leeds United
football clubs.
secondary school in Whitehall in Dublin. He graduated in visual communications in 1983 at the College of Marketing and Design, now part of the Dublin Institute of Technology
. He has since addressed graduate events at both institutions. In 1983, he was elected president of the college students' union and students' representative on the Dublin City Council
Vocational Education Committee
. In 1984, he was defeated when he ran for the post of education officer in the Union of Students in Ireland, in opposition to Joe Duffy
, then USI president, who is now a broadcaster with RTE
. He then took a course in product development, and set up as a freelance designer.
and Paul Woodfull
, co-wrote I, Keano
, a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane
leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team
before the 2002 FIFA World Cup
. It was presented as a mock-epic melodrama about an ancient Roman legion preparing for war. In its first two years, over half a million people watched it, generating €10m ($13m) in ticket sales.
to help the fictitious ‘John’ seek a grant from the Industrial Development Authority to produce dog bowls modelled on dinner plates; prompted Charles Haughey
to meet ‘John’ to help fund a 'Bring Back Charlie' campaign, and provoked Pope John Paul II
to pray for 'John's' children because his kids put condoms on the family chess-set bishops.
The Irish Times included Ireland on the Internet among its top ten computer books of 1995. That’s Ireland – A Miscellany, co-written with Damien Corless, was a hardback bestseller that included such trivia as that three in every ten TDs since 1922 have been called some variation of Paddy, Mick, Sean or Seamus, and that when the Pope held his youth Mass in Galway in 1979, each diocese was asked to send a baker in white overalls and a lame person with a stick or crutches.
In Absurdly Yours, Nugent pitched a new series of prank letters, ranging from planes without seats (for Ryanair
CEO Michael O'Leary
) to scaffolding on Mount Everest (the Nepalese Government responded it would be "inappropriate"). The FAI
offered to help with his invention of a left-footed football, but the GAA
replied that they could detect a wind-up from 1,000 yards.
, working with Michael Keating TD
who he had befriended during his VEC days. He soon left the PDs, saying that he was disillusioned with the clientilist system and that he believed in the need to tackle the Northern Ireland problem on a cross-party basis.
In the late 1980s, Nugent was spokesperson for a campaign against the conviction of two Tallaght youths for robbery and assault. In 1990, Taoiseach Charles Haughey
assured the youths’ families and Nugent that new evidence would be considered. In 1993, the government announced a new law to enable this to happen and, in 2001, the case was declared a miscarriage of justice.
In 1992, after an IRA bomb killed eight Protestant workmen in Teebane Cross, Nugent and six other men protested by chaining themselves across the entrance of the Sinn Féin office in Dublin. New Consensus also organised peace rallies and pickets of Sinn Féin and UDA offices, and collections of flowers after paramilitary killings. One picket of Sinn Féin included former Fine Gael Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, Workers’ Party leader Prionsias de Rossa, Alliance Party leader John Alderdice, Deputies Nora Owen (FG), Jim Mitchell (FG), Austin Currie (FG), Monica Barnes (FG), Pat McCartan (WP), Eric Byrne (WP), Larry McMahon (FG), Nuala Fennel (FG), and Roger Garland (Green Party) along with the independent Senators David Norris and Shane Ross.
Sinn Féin regularly said that New Consensus did not protest against violence by the security forces in Northern Ireland. Nugent responded that they protested when agents of the British or Irish States acted outside the law, although this never happened When New Consensus picketed the Belfast offices of the loyalist UDA, some said that this was only in response to criticism of imbalance. Also some single-issue peace groups, such as Peace 93 and the Peace Train Organisation
, distanced themselves from the political aims of New Consensus.
In 1970 Sinn Féin
had split into Provisional and Official Sinn Féin, with Official Sinn Féin later becoming the Workers’ Party
and then Democratic Left
before merging with the Labour Party
. This mirrored a split within the IRA, which split into the Official IRA
and the Provisional IRA. The Official IRA
officially decommissioned in 2010. Although the group declined in support from 1972 it remained linked to Official Sinn Fein and was frequently accused of committing robberies and fraud in order to fund the party. Some political commentators such as Vincent Browne
and Paddy Prendeville said that the Workers’ Party and Democratic Left had an attitude to Northern Ireland that was close to Ulster unionism. New Consensus was regularly derided by Sinn Féin and a number of commentators who stated that the group was a front for the Workers' Party. During pickets members of Sinn Fein would challenge picketers about the Official IRA
and killings and acts associated with the group. Both New Consensus and the parties denied this.
and Harper Collins Publishers over a claim that "New Consensus" was an offshoot of Official Sinn Fein. The author and publishers apologized in court, stating they had made a mistake.
, which contained abortion clinic contact details for potential protestors. Under Irish law at the time no contact details of any abortion service could be published.
’s childhood home in Drumcondra. The campaign received messages of support from Joyce scholars in Britain, Australia, Canada and the US, which were passed on to Dublin Corporation.
, running for Fine Gael
in the Ballymun-Whitehall local electoral area, but he failed to be elected.
. The Bank accepted Nugent’s argument that they had a statutory duty to consider other candidates, and he forwarded the CV of Irish Senator and business editor Shane Ross. After public pressure, O'Flaherty withdrew his candidacy.
and Leeds United
football clubs. In 2002, he helped to prevent the Football Association of Ireland
from selling broadcast rights for international matches to Sky television
, but failed in an attempt to create a representative body for Irish football fans. In 2008, he was removed as a director of Bohemian Football Club after he questioned the viability of the club’s growing expenditure. Two years later, the club was reported to be entering the most critical stage in its history.
society free from superstition and supernaturalism. Its first AGM in July 2009 outlined specific aims, including the removal of references to God from the Irish constitution
, the introduction of a secular education system, and a campaign to encourage people to read the Bible.
As chairperson of Atheist Ireland, Nugent has strongly opposed the law against blasphemous libel
introduced by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern
and passed by the Oireachtas
in July 2009. Nugent described it as "silly and dangerous", and argued that ideas should always be open to criticism and ridicule. As part of the campaign, he was involved in the formation of the parody Church of Dermotology, which satirises organised religion and the concept of blasphemy, and in the launch of a website opposing the bill, called Blasphemy.ie. When the law came into force on 1 January 2010, Atheist Ireland published a list of 25 blasphemous quotes on this website to challenge it. In March 2010 the Justice Minister proposed that a referendum should be held to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.
Nugent also used the blasphemy law to highlight other areas of the Irish Constitution
which he felt were anomalous. He pointed out that to become a judge
, a member of the Irish Council of State
, or President of Ireland
, a candidate must first swear a religious oath. He said that amendments were immediately required to address all such issues.
In June 2010, Nugent spoke at the Gods and Politics international atheist conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. In August he called for the removal of the daily Angelus from RTE, saying that it amounted to a free advert for the Catholic Church, and he debated the issue on RTE radio with Roger Childs, RTE’s editor of religious programmes. In October he addressed a meeting in Brussels at which the Presidents of the European Commission, European Parliament and European Council discussed the fight against poverty and social exclusion with representatives of philosophical non-confessional organisations.
In March 2011, Nugent criticised the question “What is your religion?” in the coming Irish census. He said the census should instead ask “Do you have a religion?” and “If so, what is it?” He asked nonreligious Irish people to tick the No Religion box. He also predicted that moderate religious belief will become a minority position in many countries. He said that religion is being squeezed by science, which undermines its claims about reality, and secularism, which erodes its positions on morality.
In June 2011, Nugent was the opening speaker at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin, Ireland, which adopted the Dublin Declaration on Secularism and launched Atheist Alliance International, a newly restructured umbrella group for atheists worldwide. Nugent told the convention that atheists were arrogant “because we do not believe that the entire universe was created for our benefit” and because they did not believe “that the most powerful being ever created a universe of over 100 billion galaxies, each with over 100 billion stars like our sun, which existed for 14 billion years, and then picked one of the 100 billion galaxies and picked one of the 100 billion stars in that galaxy, and picked one planet revolving around that star and of the million species on that planet he picked one animal member of all those species and said: ‘I’ve really got to tell that guy to stop gathering sticks on the Sabbath’.”
In June 2011, irate Catholics protested against an art exhibition in University College Cork that included an image of the Madonna in a bikini by Hispanic artist Alma Lopez. Their calls for bans and protests were countered on RTE by Nugent, who later commented: "It was like discussing the rules of quidditch with people who believe Harry Potter was a documentary."
and the BBC Mundo
Spanish language website. He has been interviewed on various broadcast media including the BBC World Service
, NPR
’s All Things Considered
, and RTE
’s Prime Time, Ryan Tubridy
, Spirit Moves and Seoige and O’Shea
.
Nugent also speaks and debates on atheism, morality, Christianity, Islam and related issues, including at University College Cork, the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, the South Place Ethical Society in London, England, the Gods and Politics Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, University College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the World Atheist Convention in Dublin, Ireland.
I, Keano
I, Keano is a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team before the 2002 FIFA World Cup....
. He has campaigned on many political issues, often with his late wife Anne Holliday, and he is chairperson of the advocacy group Atheist Ireland. He argues that atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
provides a better model of reality, and a better basis for morality, than believing in gods; that atheists can enjoy the benefits that many people get from religion, without the harmful effects; and that the state should be secular, promoting neither religion nor atheism. He writes a blog about happiness and atheism, and he supports Bohemians
Bohemian F.C.
Bohemian F.C. , more commonly referred to as Bohemians, is a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. Bohemians compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are the third most successful club in League of Ireland football history, having won the League of Ireland title 11...
and Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
football clubs.
Early life
Nugent was completing a project on the Gospels in primary school when he started to question the “comic book” nature of the Bible. He attended St. Aidan's C.B.S.St. Aidan's C.B.S.
St Aidan's C.B.S. is an Irish Christian Brothers secondary school under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust located on Collins Avenue, Dublin. It is beside Dublin City University.- Early years :...
secondary school in Whitehall in Dublin. He graduated in visual communications in 1983 at the College of Marketing and Design, now part of the Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...
. He has since addressed graduate events at both institutions. In 1983, he was elected president of the college students' union and students' representative on the Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...
Vocational Education Committee
Vocational Education Committee
A Vocational Education Committee is a statutory local education body in the Republic of Ireland that administers some secondary education, most adult education and a very small amount of primary education in the state...
. In 1984, he was defeated when he ran for the post of education officer in the Union of Students in Ireland, in opposition to Joe Duffy
Joe Duffy
Joseph "Joe" Duffy is an Irish broadcaster employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann . A Jacob's Award winner, he is the current presenter of Liveline, which is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1, Monday - Fridays between 13:45 and 15:00.Duffy has a history as a student activist; he was President of the Union of...
, then USI president, who is now a broadcaster with RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
. He then took a course in product development, and set up as a freelance designer.
Marriage
In 2009 Nugent married his longtime partner Anne Holliday, after she was diagnosed with cancer. She died on 9 April 2011, aged 57. Holliday and Nugent were founder members in 1988 of New Consensus, the group which called for the revision of the Republic’s territorial claim on the North and devolved government for the people of Northern Ireland based on “mutual respect, civil liberty and freely given allegiance”, and they helped to organise the Peace Train campaign to end disruption of the north-south rail link by the IRA. Holliday was also a Simon Community volunteer, a founder member of the Limerick chapter of the Irish Georgian Society, campaigned to save Wood Quay, and was active in residents rights issues. She worked as a secretary at the law firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice, a Dail secretary for TDs Michael Keating and Roger Garland, personal assistant to National Museum Director Pat Wallace, in media relations and special projects at the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, and in the Tánaiste’s office at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.Works
- MichaelNugent.com, a blog about happiness, atheism and life, started in 2008
- I, KeanoI, KeanoI, Keano is a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team before the 2002 FIFA World Cup....
, comedy musical play with Arthur MathewsArthur Mathews (writer)Arthur Mathews is an Irish comedy writer and actor who, often with writing partner Graham Linehan, has either written or contributed to a number of popular television comedies, most notably Father Ted. He is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology...
and Paul WoodfullPaul WoodfullPaul Woodfull is an Irish writer, actor, comedian and musician. He has written two television series, a CD and the comedy musical play I, Keano. He is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin...
, 2005 - Absurdly Yours – The Michael Nugent Letters, 2004 ISBN 1-84131-671-7
- That’s Ireland – A Miscellany, with Damien Corless, 2003 ISBN 1-84131-633-4
- Ireland on the Internet – The Definitive Guide, 1995 ISBN 0-86121-647-4
- Dear Me – The Diary of John Mackay, 1994 ISBN 0-86121-615-6
- Dear John – The John Mackay Letters, with Sam Smyth, 1993 ISBN 0-86121-550-8 (hardback ISBN 0-86121-530-3)
Theatre
Nugent, with Arthur MathewsArthur Mathews (writer)
Arthur Mathews is an Irish comedy writer and actor who, often with writing partner Graham Linehan, has either written or contributed to a number of popular television comedies, most notably Father Ted. He is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology...
and Paul Woodfull
Paul Woodfull
Paul Woodfull is an Irish writer, actor, comedian and musician. He has written two television series, a CD and the comedy musical play I, Keano. He is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin...
, co-wrote I, Keano
I, Keano
I, Keano is a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team before the 2002 FIFA World Cup....
, a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane
Roy Keane
Roy Maurice Keane is an Irish former footballer and manager. In his 18-year playing career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic in Scotland....
leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
before the 2002 FIFA World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
. It was presented as a mock-epic melodrama about an ancient Roman legion preparing for war. In its first two years, over half a million people watched it, generating €10m ($13m) in ticket sales.
Books
Dear John was a number one bestseller in Ireland, co-written by Nugent and Sam Smyth. By writing prank letters, Nugent and Smyth convinced then Taoiseach Albert ReynoldsAlbert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds , served as Taoiseach of Ireland, serving one term in office from 1992 until 1994. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize...
to help the fictitious ‘John’ seek a grant from the Industrial Development Authority to produce dog bowls modelled on dinner plates; prompted Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
to meet ‘John’ to help fund a 'Bring Back Charlie' campaign, and provoked Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
to pray for 'John's' children because his kids put condoms on the family chess-set bishops.
The Irish Times included Ireland on the Internet among its top ten computer books of 1995. That’s Ireland – A Miscellany, co-written with Damien Corless, was a hardback bestseller that included such trivia as that three in every ten TDs since 1922 have been called some variation of Paddy, Mick, Sean or Seamus, and that when the Pope held his youth Mass in Galway in 1979, each diocese was asked to send a baker in white overalls and a lame person with a stick or crutches.
In Absurdly Yours, Nugent pitched a new series of prank letters, ranging from planes without seats (for Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
CEO Michael O'Leary
Michael O'Leary (Ryanair)
Michael O'Leary is an Irish businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish airline Ryanair. He is one of Ireland's wealthiest businessmen.-Early life:...
) to scaffolding on Mount Everest (the Nepalese Government responded it would be "inappropriate"). The FAI
Football Association of Ireland
The Football Association of Ireland is the governing body for the sport of association football in the Republic of Ireland. It should not to be confused with the Irish Football Association , which is the organising body for the sport in Northern Ireland.For the full history, statistics and records...
offered to help with his invention of a left-footed football, but the GAA
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
replied that they could detect a wind-up from 1,000 yards.
Activism
In 1986, Nugent joined the newly-founded Progressive DemocratsProgressive Democrats
The Progressive Democrats , commonly known as the PDs, was a pro-free market liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland.Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Malley and other politicians who had split from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats took liberal positions on...
, working with Michael Keating TD
Michael Keating (Irish politician)
Michael Keating is a former Irish politician.-Early life:Michael Keating was born in Dublin in 1946. He was educated at the Christian Brothers O'Connell School, University College Dublin and St. Patrick's College in Maynooth where he received a Bachelor of Arts...
who he had befriended during his VEC days. He soon left the PDs, saying that he was disillusioned with the clientilist system and that he believed in the need to tackle the Northern Ireland problem on a cross-party basis.
In the late 1980s, Nugent was spokesperson for a campaign against the conviction of two Tallaght youths for robbery and assault. In 1990, Taoiseach Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
assured the youths’ families and Nugent that new evidence would be considered. In 1993, the government announced a new law to enable this to happen and, in 2001, the case was declared a miscarriage of justice.
New Consensus
In 1988, Nugent co-founded the New Consensus peace group with his partner Anne Holliday and Michael Fitzpatrick. He also chaired the group. Its launch meeting in April 1989 announced its aims as challenging ambivalence about murder in Northern Ireland, and promoting a democratic, pluralist and non-sectarian society with integrated education, a bill of rights and revision of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution.In 1992, after an IRA bomb killed eight Protestant workmen in Teebane Cross, Nugent and six other men protested by chaining themselves across the entrance of the Sinn Féin office in Dublin. New Consensus also organised peace rallies and pickets of Sinn Féin and UDA offices, and collections of flowers after paramilitary killings. One picket of Sinn Féin included former Fine Gael Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, Workers’ Party leader Prionsias de Rossa, Alliance Party leader John Alderdice, Deputies Nora Owen (FG), Jim Mitchell (FG), Austin Currie (FG), Monica Barnes (FG), Pat McCartan (WP), Eric Byrne (WP), Larry McMahon (FG), Nuala Fennel (FG), and Roger Garland (Green Party) along with the independent Senators David Norris and Shane Ross.
Sinn Féin regularly said that New Consensus did not protest against violence by the security forces in Northern Ireland. Nugent responded that they protested when agents of the British or Irish States acted outside the law, although this never happened When New Consensus picketed the Belfast offices of the loyalist UDA, some said that this was only in response to criticism of imbalance. Also some single-issue peace groups, such as Peace 93 and the Peace Train Organisation
Peace Train Organisation
The Peace Train Organisation was a campaign group set up in 1989 in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in response to the repeated bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway line by the Provisional IRA....
, distanced themselves from the political aims of New Consensus.
In 1970 Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
had split into Provisional and Official Sinn Féin, with Official Sinn Féin later becoming the Workers’ Party
Workers' Party of Ireland
The Workers' Party is a left-wing republican political party in Ireland. Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970 after a split within the party, adopting its current name in 1982....
and then Democratic Left
Democratic Left (Ireland)
Democratic Left was a democratic socialist political party active in Ireland between 1992 and 1999. It came into being after a split in the Workers' Party and, after just seven years in existence, it merged into the Irish Labour Party.-Origins:...
before merging with the Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
. This mirrored a split within the IRA, which split into the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
and the Provisional IRA. The Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
officially decommissioned in 2010. Although the group declined in support from 1972 it remained linked to Official Sinn Fein and was frequently accused of committing robberies and fraud in order to fund the party. Some political commentators such as Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne is an Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with The Irish Times and The Sunday Business Post and a part time barrister....
and Paddy Prendeville said that the Workers’ Party and Democratic Left had an attitude to Northern Ireland that was close to Ulster unionism. New Consensus was regularly derided by Sinn Féin and a number of commentators who stated that the group was a front for the Workers' Party. During pickets members of Sinn Fein would challenge picketers about the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
and killings and acts associated with the group. Both New Consensus and the parties denied this.
Libel case
In 1996, Nugent, Anne Holliday and Michael Fitzpatrick won a libel action against the Irish author and historian Tim Pat CooganTim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987...
and Harper Collins Publishers over a claim that "New Consensus" was an offshoot of Official Sinn Fein. The author and publishers apologized in court, stating they had made a mistake.
Veritas
In 1992, Nugent highlighted that Veritas, a bookshop owned by the Catholic Bishops, was breaking the law by selling an anti-abortion book, Closed by Joseph ScheidlerJoseph Scheidler
Joseph M. Scheidler is a noted American pro-life activist, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League, former Benedictine monk, and named defendant in the NOW v. Scheidler litigation, a 19-year saga which was ultimately resolved in Scheidler's favor by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006. He is...
, which contained abortion clinic contact details for potential protestors. Under Irish law at the time no contact details of any abortion service could be published.
Joycean home
In 1996, he and his partner Anne Holliday organised an email campaign to protest against the proposed demolition of James JoyceJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
’s childhood home in Drumcondra. The campaign received messages of support from Joyce scholars in Britain, Australia, Canada and the US, which were passed on to Dublin Corporation.
Council election candidate
In 1999, he was a local election candidate for Dublin City CouncilDublin City Council
Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...
, running for Fine Gael
Fine Gael
Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
in the Ballymun-Whitehall local electoral area, but he failed to be elected.
European Investment Bank
In 2000, Nugent helped to stop the Irish government appointing a disgraced former judge, Hugh O’Flaherty, to the European Investment BankEuropean Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions...
. The Bank accepted Nugent’s argument that they had a statutory duty to consider other candidates, and he forwarded the CV of Irish Senator and business editor Shane Ross. After public pressure, O'Flaherty withdrew his candidacy.
Football related activism
Nugent supports BohemiansBohemian F.C.
Bohemian F.C. , more commonly referred to as Bohemians, is a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. Bohemians compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are the third most successful club in League of Ireland football history, having won the League of Ireland title 11...
and Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
football clubs. In 2002, he helped to prevent the Football Association of Ireland
Football Association of Ireland
The Football Association of Ireland is the governing body for the sport of association football in the Republic of Ireland. It should not to be confused with the Irish Football Association , which is the organising body for the sport in Northern Ireland.For the full history, statistics and records...
from selling broadcast rights for international matches to Sky television
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, but failed in an attempt to create a representative body for Irish football fans. In 2008, he was removed as a director of Bohemian Football Club after he questioned the viability of the club’s growing expenditure. Two years later, the club was reported to be entering the most critical stage in its history.
Atheist Ireland
Nugent is the inaugural chairperson of Atheist Ireland, an advocacy group for an ethical and secularSecularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
society free from superstition and supernaturalism. Its first AGM in July 2009 outlined specific aims, including the removal of references to God from the Irish constitution
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...
, the introduction of a secular education system, and a campaign to encourage people to read the Bible.
As chairperson of Atheist Ireland, Nugent has strongly opposed the law against blasphemous libel
Blasphemous libel
Blasphemous libel was originally an offence under the common law of England. It is an offence under the common law of Northern Ireland. It is a statutory offence in Canada and New Zealand...
introduced by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern
Dermot Ahern
Dermot Christopher Ahern is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála for the Louth constituency from 1987 to 2011...
and passed by the Oireachtas
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
in July 2009. Nugent described it as "silly and dangerous", and argued that ideas should always be open to criticism and ridicule. As part of the campaign, he was involved in the formation of the parody Church of Dermotology, which satirises organised religion and the concept of blasphemy, and in the launch of a website opposing the bill, called Blasphemy.ie. When the law came into force on 1 January 2010, Atheist Ireland published a list of 25 blasphemous quotes on this website to challenge it. In March 2010 the Justice Minister proposed that a referendum should be held to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.
Nugent also used the blasphemy law to highlight other areas of the Irish Constitution
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...
which he felt were anomalous. He pointed out that to become a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, a member of the Irish Council of State
Council of State (Ireland)
The Council of State is a body established by the Constitution of Ireland to advise the President of Ireland in the exercise of many of his or her discretionary, reserve powers...
, or President of Ireland
President of Ireland
The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...
, a candidate must first swear a religious oath. He said that amendments were immediately required to address all such issues.
In June 2010, Nugent spoke at the Gods and Politics international atheist conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. In August he called for the removal of the daily Angelus from RTE, saying that it amounted to a free advert for the Catholic Church, and he debated the issue on RTE radio with Roger Childs, RTE’s editor of religious programmes. In October he addressed a meeting in Brussels at which the Presidents of the European Commission, European Parliament and European Council discussed the fight against poverty and social exclusion with representatives of philosophical non-confessional organisations.
In March 2011, Nugent criticised the question “What is your religion?” in the coming Irish census. He said the census should instead ask “Do you have a religion?” and “If so, what is it?” He asked nonreligious Irish people to tick the No Religion box. He also predicted that moderate religious belief will become a minority position in many countries. He said that religion is being squeezed by science, which undermines its claims about reality, and secularism, which erodes its positions on morality.
In June 2011, Nugent was the opening speaker at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin, Ireland, which adopted the Dublin Declaration on Secularism and launched Atheist Alliance International, a newly restructured umbrella group for atheists worldwide. Nugent told the convention that atheists were arrogant “because we do not believe that the entire universe was created for our benefit” and because they did not believe “that the most powerful being ever created a universe of over 100 billion galaxies, each with over 100 billion stars like our sun, which existed for 14 billion years, and then picked one of the 100 billion galaxies and picked one of the 100 billion stars in that galaxy, and picked one planet revolving around that star and of the million species on that planet he picked one animal member of all those species and said: ‘I’ve really got to tell that guy to stop gathering sticks on the Sabbath’.”
In June 2011, irate Catholics protested against an art exhibition in University College Cork that included an image of the Madonna in a bikini by Hispanic artist Alma Lopez. Their calls for bans and protests were countered on RTE by Nugent, who later commented: "It was like discussing the rules of quidditch with people who believe Harry Potter was a documentary."
Media
Nugent has been profiled or interviewed in the Irish Times, the Sunday Business Post, the Sunday IndependentSunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
and the BBC Mundo
BBC Mundo
BBC Mundo is part of the BBC World Service's foreign language output, one of 33 languages it provides.- History :The BBC Mundo was broadcasting between 14 March 1938 and 25th February 2011...
Spanish language website. He has been interviewed on various broadcast media including the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
’s All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
, and RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
’s Prime Time, Ryan Tubridy
Ryan Tubridy
Ryan Tubridy , affectionately known as "Tubs", is an Irish broadcaster and writer, a presenter of live shows on radio and television in Ireland. He has been described as "one of Ireland's most gifted broadcasters"...
, Spirit Moves and Seoige and O’Shea
Seoige
Seoige was an Irish television chat show. The show, hosted by sisters Gráinne and Sile Seoige, was broadcast live on weekdays at 16:30 on RTÉ One, with a hiatus in the summer months. Episodes were repeated at 08:20 the following weekday morning on the same channel.The programme was originally...
.
Nugent also speaks and debates on atheism, morality, Christianity, Islam and related issues, including at University College Cork, the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, the South Place Ethical Society in London, England, the Gods and Politics Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, University College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the World Atheist Convention in Dublin, Ireland.