'The Unitarian Church in Ireland presently Unitarianism in Ireland consists of two Congregations, Dublin and Cork, part of the Synod of Munster, in the Republic of Ireland, and the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland in the North of Ireland which the Synod of Munster are in Union with since 1935. The Church is affiliated to the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. The Church abides by the Unitarian principles of Freedom, Reason and Tolerance.
Unitarianism in Ireland dates back to the 1600s with early recorded communities in Dublin and Bandon, Co. Cork, it has its roots in the Puritan Non-Conformist / Dissenters who did not subscribe to established church doctrines, like Westminister Confession. Unitarianism was illegal up until 1813. In 1809 the Synod of Munster was founded when the non-subscribing presbyteries Dublin and others in the South of Ireland came together. In 1830 the Irish Unitarian Society (for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge) now the Irish Unitarian Christian Society was formed. Among its founders was Rev. Dr. James Armstrong, who promoted Unitarianism particularly in the South of Ireland by publishing books and other works. In 1835 the Association of Non-Subscribing Presbyteries was formed. In 1910 the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland was formally established with the merger of the Antrim Presbytery and Remonist Synod of Ulster. In 1935 the Unitarian Synod of Munster joined the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
In the past there were Unitarian communities in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, as early as 1666, who met from 1789 to 1924 at the Unitarian Chapel (built in 1838) in Wellington Street, and Bandon, as early as the 1600s but met at the Unitarian Presbyterian Church, built by Rev. Edward King, sometimes called The Old Preaching House or The Seekers Church, in Bandon, from 1813 to 1908. It became a bakery and more recently an agricultural supplies store. There were also communities in Tipperary Town and a Presbyterian (Unitarian) Church in Fethard.
Prior to being based in Stephens Green, Unitarians had premises in Wood Street which moved to Strand Street in 1764, Cook Street joined Strand Street in 1787, and New Row which moved to Eustace Street in Dublin, the Eustace Street and Strand Street Congregations merged to form the new Dublin Unitarian Church on Stephens Green.