The first two ships were named for Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, as disclosed in July 2013 by the then Minister for Defence Alan Shatter in Dáil Éireann.
This decision to name the ships after literary figures, seen as controversial in some quarters, saw a break from the tradition of naming Irish Naval vessels after women in Irish mythology.

In July 2015, the then Minister for Defence Simon Coveney declared that the third vessel would be named after William Butler Yeats.
At the keel-laying ceremony for the fourth vessel, on 28 February 2017, then Minister of State at the Department of Defence Paul Kehoe announced that the vessel would be named after George Bernard Shaw.
The first two ships were named for Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, as disclosed in July 2013 by the then Minister for Defence Alan Shatter in Dáil Éireann. This decision to name the ships after literary figures, seen as controversial in some quarters, saw a break from the tradition of naming Irish Naval vessels after women in Irish mythology.
In July 2015, the then Minister for Defence Simon Coveney declared that the third vessel would be named after William Butler Yeats. At the keel-laying ceremony for the fourth vessel, on 28 February 2017, then Minister of State at the Department of Defence Paul Kehoe announced that the vessel would be named after George Bernard Shaw.
Samuel Beckett-class offshore patrol vessel