Justin Barrett has been a fringe presence in Irish politics since the early 90s. He worked as part of a radical anti-abortion group in his younger years called Youth Defence and found himself shrouded in controversy throughout the 2000s as he was seen travelling Europe to meet up with neo-Nazi organisations in Italy and Germany. (2)

Barrett founded The National Party in 2016, a far-right conservative party advocating for reintroducing the death penalty and strict controls on immigration. The party was the first of its kind in Ireland and began to grow in popularity, yet remained a fringe party. The National Party tried to hold its first public demonstration outside Leinster House in 2020 but was met by a counter-protest with hundreds of anti-fascist demonstrators attending, eventually, NP supporters needed to be bussed out by the police for their safety.

The NP tried to win a seat in the Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) for the first time in 2021 when Justin Barrett ran as a candidate in a Dublin by-election. This is when he came to be more widely known in Irish society. His tactics were vastly different from those of other politicians. He rarely canvassed or even came into the constituency he was running in but had groups of young men all in dark National Party uniforms do the canvassing for him. His campaign slogan was tongue-in-cheek: “Right so far.”(3)

The election had a 34.7% turnout, of which Barrett only won 0.7% of the vote. Barrett went viral on the morning of the election when he was photographed going into a polling station flanked on four sides by masked men in National Party jackets. From this, the nickname “Littler” was coined. (3)

Barrett's downfall in the NP occurred in August 2023 when infighting within the party was played out in public. It started in July when the National Party deputy leader James Reynolds and his supporters released a statement saying that Barrett had been removed from his position as party leader. Barrett denied that he had been removed as the leader and insisted, and still does to this day, that he is in charge of the National Party but that Reynolds controls the social media accounts. Barrett then made a complaint to the police that gold bars worth around €400,000 had been removed from a vault in Dublin by the other faction of the National Party. The NP claimed they transferred it to another vault to prevent Barrett from having access to it. (4)

This sparked a police investigation into where the gold bars came from and why The NP never declared them. The NP never submitted details of their party finances to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO). Barrett claims that it was simply gathered over the course of many years by party members and they stored it in gold bars in case the euro collapsed. Since the split, both Reynolds and Barrett have claimed to be the National Party leader and tried to remove the other's name from the official register of political parties. Both have been banned from using the name in the upcoming local and European elections while the issue is ongoing. (4)(6)

In the wake of this ongoing row over the leadership of the National Party, Justin Barrett has formed a new organisation named Clann Éireann (Irish Family). This organisation seems to be more serious and overtly aligned with neo-fascist movements in Europe than anything seen in Ireland before.

In the last five years, several far-right and anti-immigrant groups have emerged in Ireland. These groups have somewhat sidelined the NP for perceived inaction. Groups like the Irish Freedom Party, Síol na hÉireann, and Rise Up Ireland have taken the fore and are seen to be more active with a large street presence for demonstrations which regularly occur outside refugee accommodation and politicians' houses. The general rhetoric of the major far-right groups in Ireland has centred on concerns around housing supply, cost of living crisis, and integration concerns. Whilst these groups are all undoubtedly far-right, the rhetoric of Clann Éireann has been somewhat more serious.

In a speech made to members of Clann Éireann at the organisation's launch, Barrett made clear that the organisation is anti-democratic and wishes to deport all foreigners, regardless of legal status. He said, “I don't care if he's here legally or illegally, if he thinks he's here to stay, he's wrong. He's going home.” He went on to say that he considers other Europeans to be cousins of the Irish and that his gripe was not with non-Irish but mainly with non-European (and it can only be assumed - non-white) individuals: “Not one person from Africa or Asia belongs or can ever belong here. No matter how much they integrate or contribute.”(1)

The organisation's website is striking. The first thing that stands out is a cartoon image of a man wearing a balaclava, a beret, and a military uniform. The writing on the image says “Go nationalist or go extinct,” and behind the image is a crowd of people waving Irish tricolours. This overt call to militarism is something that has become increasingly common amongst the Irish far-right, with many organisations harking back to the rhetoric used by groups like the Irish Republican Army about defending Ireland's land from invaders. Ironically, many members and factions within the IRA were overtly socialist and many came from immigrant backgrounds. Including Padraig Pearse, a famous Irish rebel executed in 1916 who was born to an English immigrant father. He has become a symbolic figurehead for the far-right in Ireland due to his famed love for Ireland's native language and culture but is also admired by the far left in Ireland.

Clann Éireann's logo follows common trends in European far-right symbolism. It is a version of the Celtic Cross symbol, one of the most recognised fascist symbols in the world. Ironically, this symbol, which is used by far-right groups across Europe and America, has its origins in Ireland but has never been very common here. It is a symbol designed to represent a Christian Europe. Many have also compared Clann Éireann's logo to a modern form of a swastika.(5)

On the organisation's website, they state that “it's time to put an end to the cultural degeneracy and abuse that plagues our nation” that “democracy has failed” and “We alone are the voice of the Irish nation and the shield of the Gaelic race” while also promising to give the Irish people “a new leadership and a new future.”(5)

Whilst the organisation supports the deportation of all foreigners, regardless of legal status, it aims to welcome and invite the large Irish diaspora in countries such as the US and Australia. They see Irishness and one's right to be in Ireland as being based on blood.(1)

In a 45-minute speech at the launch event of Clann Éireann, Barrett explained the organisation's stance on this: “Putting my foot on it (the Irish soil) as a Kazakhstani will not make me Irish. And taking my foot off it as an Irishman will not cease my Irishness. Because Irish is in the blood. It is in ethnicity, and anything other than an ethnonationalist is not good enough.”(1)

The speech he gave made the group stand out as a far more extreme organisation than what has been seen in Ireland before. He lined out the organisation's goals and strategy but mixed in many anti-Semitic and racist remarks. At one point, when talking about deporting foreign nationals out of Ireland, he said, “I have seen the standard of housing that is in the countries that these people come from, and it strikes me that they wouldn’t be hard to build.” This was met with laughter from the audience and from Barrett himself, to which he continued his point amid a chorus of laughter in the background: “If he needs some sticks, some mud, we will send that. Straw perhaps, a roof. There’s no point in trying to teach them how to thatch. It’s far too complicated.”(1)

His speech was peppered with dark humour and a real openness about the organisation's beliefs. Many far-right groups in Ireland cover their ideology in a cloak of concerns around issues like housing, while Clann Éireann seems to have no desire to sugarcoat their beliefs. “Clann Éireann will be authoritarian,” Justin Barrett proclaimed, whilst then saying, “We will be governed by blood and iron,” which was a common saying used by the Nazis. In another strange attempt at humour that highlighted what this group is actually about, he said, “They will call us racists, they will call us xenophobes, they will call us fascists… though I don’t think that last one is accurate,” he said whilst chuckling and being met with more laughter from his small audience.(1)

Barrett insisted that Clann Éireann is not a political party but seemingly is more of an activist group with the National Party acting as its political wing, despite it not being clear whether he is still the NP leader or not. “That will be our registered political party, and we will do what we want with it,” Barrett said, then looked straight out into the audience and lowered his voice to finish the sentence in a whispered tone “But what we want with it, I am not going to say in this speech.”(1)

He openly used the term “propaganda organisation” to describe Clann Éireann. Propaganda as a term was very common pre-WW2 and generally was almost used in place of what we would today call marketing or PR. However, in the post-war period, due to the Nazis' use of the word, it became seen as a bad word and generally stopped being used in common discourse and was associated with attempts at lies and trickery. It has extremely negative connotations these days, but Barrett doesn't seem to mind.(1)

Barrett’s speech at the organisation's launch was perceived by numerous Irish media channels as relatively sinister and vague. Whilst Barrett espoused a lot of rhetoric about what the organisation believes, he did not fully set out what exactly the purpose of Clann Éireann is and what activities they will be involved in. He gave subtle hints that this organisation was to be more extreme than others of its kind and that they would be willing to break the law to achieve their aims. During his speech, he said, “There is a practical matter when it comes to whether you are willing to break the law or not. The practical matter of the consequences the state can enforce on you if you do not obey the rule of law which they can change (at any time).” He continued to say, “We can’t say we are going to limit ourselves to electoral means if they are willing to change the electoral rules whenever they want.” He continued on in this tone for a few minutes, talking about the rule of law and the group's willingness to break the law, almost as if it were an act of necessity. This part of the speech was where he really showed that Clann Éireann plans to do away with the Irish state should they grow powerful enough. How big the organisation could potentially grow and how radical their actions are remains to be seen. The 53-year-old Barrett continued in his speech to say, “I have managed to get to the age I am without a criminal conviction of any kind. I don’t expect that to last much longer.”(1)

While the rhetoric is serious, the potential for a real insurgency-style movement growing among Clann Éireann is currently unlikely. When looking at Clann Éireann as a group primarily recruiting from National Party supporters, it's important to remember how little electoral support the NP has had. They only garnered 0.7% of the vote in the only general election they participated in. (3)

However, it is crucial not to discount the rapid rise of far-right groups in Ireland. Compared to 10 years ago, when there was almost no active far-right street presence, there are now multiple active groups. In the last three years, Ireland has witnessed far-right riots shutting down the capital city, multiple refugee accommodation centres being burnt down (7), thousands assembling for large anti-immigrant rallies, and, in a recent case, a Croatian immigrant being beaten to death for not speaking English (8) (which is the most commonly spoken language in Ireland though not its native language). There have also been more militant style actions led by local communities such as fights with the police and in the town of Inch where locals set up a blockade and checkpoint that was manned 24/7 to check people's passports on the edge of their town to ensure that no refugees were entering (9).  While many of these incidents have not been tied to specific groups, the current trajectory of militarism within the far-right in Ireland suggests that a group like Clann Éireann, attempting to organise people in a more militantly fascist structure, could potentially gain a lot of traction.

Towards the end of the speech, he continued to talk about how little Clann Éireann would care about optics and public opinion. He addressed the crowd and proclaimed, “If they want to laugh at us, let them laugh.” And then looked into the crowd and quietly delivered the next line in a lowered voice: “They will choke on their laughter in time.” (1)