Justin Barrett

Early life

Barrett was born in Cork city in 1971 and was adopted when he was five years old by a family in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary. Slevin was his adopted parents' name so he identified as Justin Slevin for a period but eventually settled on Barrett, his biological parents' name.

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 pro-life movement, becoming the leader of Youth Defence, and 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. 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 had any dealing with him.

German Neo-nazi link

Barrett has spoken at events organised by the neo-nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (German: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD) several times, and was the guest of honour at a NPD rally in Passau, Germany in 2000, in which anti-semitic speeches, peppered with quotes from Adolf Hitler were given, alongside claims that "Germany was the biggest victim of the second World War". Hundreds of skinheads gave standing ovations to elderly Nazis. The NPD confirmed that they have been in contact with Youth Defence for at least 6 years before.

Justin Barrett was an honorary guest at our event in Passau. I invited him. He sat with the delegates. We have been in contact with his group since 1996. We are friendly with his Youth Defence organisation.

He attended two conferences, in October 1999 and 2000, organised by the youth wing of the NDP, the JN, alongside American white nationalist William Luther Pierce. The JN has spoken about how Youth Defence were an important part of their network.

Of particular attraction was the participation of... the leader of the National Alliance from the USA, Dr William Pierce and, last but not least, the leader of a noteworthy Irish anti-abortion group, Justin Barret (sic) from Youth Defense (sic).

The National Party and Barrett have stated that he addressed meetings all across Europe in his capacity as a pro-life speaker. He has stated that he regrets "not being more careful" regarding his attendance of events held by the NDP in Germany.

A leading far-right politician in Germany has described the anti-abortion group Youth Defence as "an important part of our international network". Youth Defence is the backbone of the No to Nice Campaign, whose chief spokesman is Mr Justin Barrett. ... Mr Sascha Rossmüller, leader of the Young National Democrats (JN), youth wing of the extremist National Democratic Party (NPD), told The Irish Times: "share many important interests." The German authorities say the JN began to take on neo-nazi characteristics in 1996.

Italian fascist link

The Forza Nuova website, in June 2001, reported that Justin Barrett had attended many Forza Nuova events in Italy (in Milan, and Bologna). He attended and spoke at a Forza Nuova meeting in Milan in November 2002. Barrett shared a platform with Roberto Fiore at a rally of flag-waving Italian fascists at the Hotel Miramar on 20 and 21 July 2001 in the Italian city of Civitanova. At the rally, Barrett was joined by Mario Di Giovanni, Youth Defence's representative in Italy. A group of Forza Nuova students, led by the then 25-year-old Marco Gladi, visited Ireland in 2001 to 'study' with Youth Defence. In an editorial on the Forza Nuova website, the movement calls itself a "friend" of Mr Barrett and praises his efforts to defeat the Nice Treaty.

As part of the dirty war waged by "liberals" against "nationals", the greatest exponent of the nationalist front Justin Barrett, he was attacked in a press campaign of the kind to which we were accustomed us in the past. FN and NPD are, in the mind of the accusers, friends whose Barrett should be ashamed

No to Nice Campaign

In 2001, Barrett campaigned against the Treaty of Nice in both referenda. After the people voted no in Nice I, the vote was rerun a year later and passed in Nice II. 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 a pro-life capacity.

European elections, 2004

In the 2004 European Parliament election, Barrett stood as an Independent candidate for a seat in the East constituency. He gained 2.4% of the vote (a total of 10,997 first-preference votes), finishing eighth out of 13 candidates, and did not win a seat.

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.

In March 2004 he accompanied Gerry McGeough, an Independent Republican who has previously been a member of Sinn Féin, on a speaking tour.

National Party, 2016 return

In a press release in November 2016, Justin Barrett announced that he was President of the newly founded National Party, a political party that will 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.

Personal life

In 2004, Justin Barrett had a wife, Bernadette and children. As of 2016, he was seeking an annulment of this marriage. The breakdown of his relationship has changed his mind on divorce.

Book

Barrett self-published a book putting forth his political principles, entitled The National Way Forward! In the book he described immigration as "genocidal" and said that he was influenced by Hilaire Belloc, G. K. Chesterton and Arthur Penty. He also promoted the work of Father Denis Fahey.