He returned to Ireland in 1961 and began lecturing at Trinity College Dublin. He became involved in the
Wolfe Tone Society when it was set up in 1964 acting as its secretary as well as the Dublin Housing Action Committees, both of which were heavily populated by members of the
Republican Movement most of which evolved into
Sinn Féin the Workers Party. The Wolfe Tone Society campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland and supported the
NICRA. Coughlan was editor of , the paper of the Wolfe Tone Society; he was offered the editorship of the
United Irishman, but refused it. He left the Republican Movement in 1970, he was joint secretary with
Raymond Crotty of the
Common Market Defence Campaign, he participated in the
Common Market Study Group and campaigned against Ireland joining the
Common Market and has campaigned against greater European integration policies through various organisations since such as the
Irish Sovereignty Movement and
National Platform, both of which he led. Coughlan married Muriel Sadlier in 1983. ==Submissions and articles==