Although incorporated in late 1978, the National Gay Federation (as it was then known) aligned its inception with the opening of Dublin’s Hirschfeld Centre on St Patrick’s Day 1979.
NGF grew out of a split in the Irish Gay Rights Movement (IGRM), fuelled by personality and policy differences. Founded in 1974, IGRM was the republic’s first large-scale gay civil rights organisation and responsible for establishing Dublin’s first lesbian and gay community resource - the Phoenix Centre - at Parnell Square. Housing offices and a rudimentary social space, the building flourished from its inception in 1975 before becoming victim in early 1978 to the aforementioned personality/policy clashes, mismanagement and an avaricious landlord.