Justin Barrett
Justin Barrett is an Irish far-right and neo-Nazi political activist. He was leader of the National Party from 2016 until July 2023; from then until 2025 both he and his former deputy, James Reynolds, both claimed sole leadership of the party.
Barrett's activism began in the 1990s, with the anti-abortion campaign group Youth Defence. He campaigned against the Treaty of Nice in 2002 and founded the National Party in 2016. Barrett and the National Party campaigned for a No vote in the 2018 abortion referendum through the Abortion Never campaign, which functioned as "an Irish nationalist anti-abortion campaign". Barrett has never held or been elected to any public office. He contested the 2004 European Election as an independent, receiving 2.4% of the vote in the East constituency and failing to be elected. Barrett also contested the 2021 Dublin Bay South by-election for the National Party, receiving 183 first-preference votes, thus failing to be elected.
His early activism focused mostly on campaigning in Irish referendums from a Eurosceptic, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, and social conservative perspective. He subsequently however moved towards far-right politics and co-founded the National Party. Barrett has attracted controversy for making racist and homophobic remarks. In September 2019, he controversially implied that, if in power, he would strip the Irish citizenship rights of local government politician Hazel Chu, an Irish-born woman of Chinese-descent who has lived in Ireland her entire life.
Described by The Phoenix as a Neo-Nazi, and associated with Neo-Nazi groups since 2002, Barrett has publicly quoted Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, performed Nazi salutes, engaged in Holocaust denial, and in 2023, appeared at an anti-immigration protest wearing a Nazi uniform. In 2024, he praised Hitler as "the greatest leader of all time". Barrett's wife has also described the two as being national socialists.
A statement on the National Party's website in July 2023 stated he had been removed as leader and was replaced by James Reynolds. Barrett has denied being ousted from the National Party. However, his ousting was confirmed by the Electoral Commission in September 2025. As of April 2024, he was the leader of an unregistered political group called Clann Éireann.
Early life
Barrett was born in Cork city in 1971 and was adopted when he was five years old by a family in Borrisokane, County Tipperary. Slevin was his adopted parents' name. He identified as Justin Slevin for a period but eventually settled on Barrett, his biological parents' name. Barrett began a course in Business Studies at Athlone RTC, but dropped out in 1992 to become involved in anti-abortion activism in response to the X-Case judgement. In 1991, he appeared before a district court for shoplifting a pair of shoes from Dunnes Stores in Athlone.Political activism
Early activism (1987–1991)
In 1991, he was involved in Young Fine Gael but left because of what he called the cynicism of the party.Youth Defence (1992–2004)
From 1992 he became actively involved in the Irish anti-abortion movement, becoming the leader of Youth Defence. As a student in Athlone RTC he unsuccessfully contested the election for the Presidency of Union of Students in Ireland. During the 1995 divorce referendum, he was spokesman for the Youth Against Divorce campaign. In later years, Barrett himself sought a divorce in 2016.In April 1999, Barrett and seven other Youth Defence members were convicted of public order offences for a protest described at the time as a "mini-riot" outside the Adelaide Hospital that had taken place on 16 May 1998. Despite requests from hospital staff, the son of a dying woman and Gardaí to be quiet, a Youth Defence protest outside the hospital got louder and lead to "pandemonium" when Gardaí intervened. Some of the convictions were successfully appealed, two years later, and while Barret's appeal was disallowed, he was given the benefit of the Probation Act, meaning no criminal conviction was recorded against him.
He was also involved in the campaign against the 2002 abortion referendum. He left Youth Defence in 2004 because he thought their methods of campaigning and interacting with people were becoming increasingly extreme and counterproductive. By 2016, Youth Defence were claiming to have never heard of Justin Barrett, or ever to have had any dealing with him.
No to Nice Campaign
In 2001, a referendum was held in Ireland to approve the Treaty of Nice. However the Treaty of Nice was rejected by 54% of the Irish people in what is known as the Nice I referendum. The following year a second referendum was held on the Treaty of Nice, known as the Nice II referendum. Justin Barrett campaigned against the Nice Treaty in both referendums. Barrett, then 31 years-old, established the No to Nice campaign with Rory O'Hanlon, a retired High Court judge.During the second Nice campaign, Barrett became the centre of a controversy over his participation in neo-fascist events in Germany and Italy. Barrett initially denied, and subsequently admitted that he had spoken at an event organised by the NPD, a far right, ultranationalist political party. Justin Barrett has always claimed that he spoke at these events in an anti-abortion capacity on behalf on the Youth Defence Organisation.
2004 European Parliament election
In 2004 Barrett announced his independent candidacy for the European Parliament election of the same year for the East constituency. He set up his headquarters in Drogheda, an area which had experienced a large influx of non-nationals. Gerry McGeough, a former Provisional IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin national executive member, defected to Barrett's campaign. Barrett also supported the Citizenship referendum which was held on the same day as the European Parliament election.Barrett's campaign focused on immigration, Euroscepticism and abortion. Barrett employed nationalist rhetoric during his campaign and stated his intention to "put Ireland first" in the European Parliament. Barrett campaigned alongside his wife at the time Bernadette and their son Michael.
He achieved 10,997 first preference votes or 2.4% of the total vote in the East constituency and failed to be elected.
Later that year, while attending an immigration debate at University College Dublin's Literary & Historical Society, Barrett was assaulted by attendees allegedly belonging to an Irish anti-fascist group. The debate was chaired by popular RTÉ radio presenter Joe Duffy, and featured Áine Ní Chonaill of Immigration Control Platform.
National Party (2016–2023)
In a press release in November 2016, Justin Barrett announced that he was President of the newly founded National Party, a political party that would oppose multi-culturalism and abortion. While Barrett had previously promoted the idea of a "Catholic republic", the National Party states that it is a secular party. The party was due to be publicly launched in a press event on 17 November 2016 at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. However, after a public backlash, the hotel cancelled the event. Barrett called for a complete ban on Muslims entering Ireland and for the introduction of racial profiling. The party formally registered in early April 2019. Barrett has stated that the party is "only for straight Irish people".While a Eurosceptic, Barrett does not advocate leaving the European Union. Quoted in August 2019, Barrett reputedly believes that Ireland could have entered bilateral negotiations with the United Kingdom immediately after the Brexit referendum in 2016 and agreed to a separate deal with the British and then to have the EU accept that deal as part of their own negotiations with the British government. He criticised the Irish government and by extension the European Union's handling of Brexit. In September 2019, Barrett was milkshaked in Galway at a National Party protest. In October 2019 he addressed a community meeting in his hometown of Borrisokane on plans to open up a direct provision centre for 80 asylum seekers. An edited, audio-only version of his speech was played on the Claire Byrne Live show on RTÉ One.
As leader of the party, Barrett led the National Party to a total of 4,773 votes in the 2020 Irish general election, failing to win any seats.
In mid-July 2023, the National Party reportedly issued a statement saying Barrett had been removed as president of the party. Barrett disputed this and claims to still lead the party. Following his purported removal, he reported two senior members to the Gardaí for allegedly removing €400,000 worth of gold owned by the party from a vault in Dublin 4.
National Party leadership dispute and formation of Clann Éireann breakaway group
In late September 2023, James Reynolds, who also claims the leadership of the party, released a statement via the official party website outlining reasons for Barrett's alleged dismissal, which highlighted his "immense character flaws, outrageous decisions, and lack of interest in serious political activities" as well as having "no medium or long-term vision apart from a fanciful belief in an impending economic Armageddon which would inexplicably propel the National Party to power". He was also accused of theft by other members of the National Party, who accused him of having "sticky fingers" and of using party funds for personal purposes. The Electoral Commission found no evidence of criminality by his opponents or evidence that an AGM held in 2024 to remove him had been "rigged" or that there was any "coup". The Electoral Commission confirmed his removal in September 2025.In April 2024, Barrett announced that he had formed a new organisation called 'Clann Éireann'. He insisted it was not a political party, and that he had not conceded the leadership of the National Party to Reynolds. He used the organisation to attack the Reynolds-led faction within the National Party, and rallied support for his side in the leadership dispute.
An article from the Irish Times in July 2024, said that Clann Éireann is believed to have less than 20 members.