Justin Barrett

Justin Barrett (born 13 April 1971) is an Irish far-right politician and anti-abortion activist who has been the leader of the National Party since 2016. His leadership of the party has been disputed since July 2023. 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".

His early activism focused mostly on campaigning in Irish referenda from a Eurosceptic, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, and social conservative perspective. He subsequently however moved towards far-right politics with his involvement in the National Party. Barrett has attracted controversy for his involvement with neo-Nazi groups and 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, in spite of the fact she had been born in Ireland and lived there for her entire life.

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 (0.68%), thus failing to be elected.

Since 2022, Barrett had publicly quoted Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, performed Nazi salutes, and in 2023 appeared at an anti-immigration protest wearing a Nazi uniform. He has been condemned for these actions by James Reynolds and others on the far-right.

A statement on the National Party's website in July 2023 stated he had been removed as leader and was replaced by James Reynolds. He denies being ousted from the National Party.