Dublin University Fabian Soiciety

Until 1952, the Clubs and Societies Committee of Dublin University had been reluctant to authorise an explicitly political society, on the grounds that the Phil and the Hist provided adequate opportunity for debate. Proposals for a "Socialist Society", a "Promethean Society" or a "Spartacus Society" were vetoed. Eventually, a "Fabian Society" was found acceptable, and allocated a room in number 4, Trinity College. At that time the majority of students at TCD were from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. As this complexion changed (particularly after 1970, when the Catholic hierarchy lifted its ban on Roman Catholic attendance) the Society became less relevant.

From the start, the Trinity Fabians were only distantly related to the principles of the Fabian Society. Instead, they accommodated a range of views, from mainstream Labour to Trotskyism and Communism. The main phase of the Society's existence was the early 1960s, when key members had connexions to Dr Noel Browne, TD, and the left wing of the Irish Labour Party. Membership then included Bob Mitchell (who was Michael O'Leary's agent in the 1965 General Election), Sean Edwards (member of the Irish Workers Party and son of Frank Edwards), John Darley (who, as John Whysall was twice a candidate for the Labour Party in British General Elections), Rayner Lysaght (who publishes under the name of D.R.O'Conor Lysaght) and Paul Gillespie (later foreign editor of The Irish Times).