[6][7] 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 RTÉ.

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 Dáil 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.

[19] By writing prank letters, Nugent and Smyth convinced then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds 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.

[21] That's Ireland – A Miscellany, co-written with Damien Corless, was a hardback best-seller[22] 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.

[23][24][20] 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").

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.

Although the group declined in support from 1972, it remained linked to Official Sinn Féin and was frequently accused of committing robberies and fraud to fund the party.

[39][40] 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.

[35] In 1996, Nugent, Anne Holliday and Michael Fitzpatrick won a libel action against the Irish author and historian Tim Pat Coogan and HarperCollins Publishers over a claim that "New Consensus" was an offshoot of Official Sinn Féin.

[19][43] 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 Scheidler, which contained abortion clinic contact details for potential protestors.

In 1996, he and his partner Anne Holliday organised an email campaign to protest against the proposed demolition of James Joyce's childhood home in Drumcondra.

[19][46] In 2000, Nugent helped to stop the Irish government appointing a disgraced former judge, Hugh O'Flaherty, to the European Investment Bank.

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.

Its first AGM in 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.

"[56] He described a radio debate with irate Catholics protesting against an art exhibition as being "like discussing the rules of quidditch with people who believe Harry Potter was a documentary.

[59][60][61][62][63] Nugent published a manifesto on "ethical atheism" that sought to promote reason, critical thinking and science, natural compassion and ethics, inclusive, caring atheist groups and fair and just societies,[64] and challenged the myths that atheism is a religion or belief system based on faith and certainty, and that we need religion for meaning and morality.

[65] In a BBC radio debate, he defended Richard Dawkins against charges by New Humanist editor Daniel Trilling that some criticism of Islam was a cover for racist views.

[71][72] 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,[73] and in the launch of a website opposing the bill, called Blasphemy.ie.

[78] When Irish police investigated comedian Stephen Fry for alleged blasphemy in 2017, Nugent welcomed the move because it highlighted a law that he said was "silly, silencing, and dangerous".

[83] He asked the Standards in Public Office Commission to examine the funding of the Catholic bishops' referendum campaign in support of retaining the Amendment.

[87] He argued that the Louise O'Keeffe judgment at the European Court of Human Rights could begin the end of State-supported religious discrimination in Irish schools.

[90] Hibernia College, an online teacher-training institution in Dublin, removed slides from its religion module for primary teachers in 2012 at the request of Atheist Ireland.

[97] He warned that joke responses to the religion question in the census, being categorised as "not stated", potentially contribute to an underreporting of the number of non-religious people.

[99][100][101] When RTÉ unveiled a new-look 6pm TV Angelus, he argued that it is not the role of a public service broadcaster to take a Catholic call to prayer and turn it into something else.

[103] When Atheist Ireland declined an invitation to take part in the Government's commemorations of the 1916 Rising,[104] Donald Clarke of the Irish Times said that Nugent and his team could hardly have seemed more out of touch if they'd sought to ban Christmas.

[109] Speaking again in Germany in 2015, on the day of the Irish marriage equality referendum victory, he described the result as the start of the fall of Ireland's religious Berlin Wall.

[69] In 2015, he welcomed California's vote to legalise assisted suicide, and he told BBC Radio Ulster that changes in the law in the UK and Ireland were inevitable as society became more compassionate.

[126] He has been interviewed on various broadcast media including the BBC World Service,[127] NPR's All Things Considered,[128] and RTÉ's Prime Time,[129] Ryan Tubridy,[130] Today with Pat Kenny,[109] Spirit Moves,[131] and Seoige and O'Shea.