Justin Barrett

Justin Barrett (born 13 April 1971) 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, 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 (0.68%), 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...