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. 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 Barrett'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 stated that he spoke at these events in an
anti-abortion capacity on behalf on the Youth Defence Organisation.
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 2019 's European headquarters in Dublin in 2019 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", 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". 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 (0.2%) 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' (Irish for 'Family Ireland'). 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.
2018 Irish abortion referendum Barrett founded Abortion Never as a No campaign in March 2018 to contest the
Irish abortion referendum, 2018. Abortion Never presents itself as "an Irish nationalist anti-abortion campaign". At the launch of the campaign, Barrett stated that if the abortion referendum passed, it would lead to euthanasia for the elderly; "It doesn’t just begin with abortion and stop there. It ends in euthanasia, because they already have a plan. You see discussions in the newspapers sometimes, ‘What are we going to do about the pensions crisis?’". At the same event, he called for the abortion referendum campaign to be "as divisive as possible". Ultimately, the referendum was approved by 66.4% of voters, with a 64.1% turnout. In April 2018,
Jim Jefferies featured Barrett on a segment of
The Jim Jefferies Show. Jefferies had Barrett travel to London for an interview on abortion (despite already being in Ireland to interview
Tara Flynn), "so he could endure the same kind of bullshit every Irish woman has to go through if they want an abortion".
2021 Dublin Bay South by-election In June 2021, he announced he would be running for public office for the first time as leader of the National Party, in the
2021 Dublin Bay South by-election, caused by the resignation of
Eoghan Murphy. Using the campaign slogan "Right So Far", he finished 11th of 15 candidates, gaining 0.68% of first-preferences, with 183 votes. He was eliminated on the third count. The seat went to
Ivana Bacik of the
Labour Party.
2024 European Parliament election Barrett was a National Party candidate for the
Midlands–North-West constituency at the
2024 European Parliament election, in which he received 4,086 (0.6%) first preference votes, and was eliminated on the sixth count. His wife, Rebecca Barrett, ran as a National Party candidate in the
Dublin constituency, which also included Patrick Quinlan (deputy leader of the Reynolds faction). Neither were successful. ==Publications==