The Electoral Commission has confirmed today that an appeal by Justin Barrett against a decision made by the Registrar to allow an application by the National Party as currently constituted to be entered into the Register of Political Parties has “concluded.”
Barrett had contested the decision to allow the National Party to amend the details contained on the Registrar related to its address, under Section 47(c), and the authorised officers of the Party which have to be registered in compliance with Section 47(d) of the Electoral Reform Act 2022.
Barrett had claimed that he was still the leader of the National Party despite changes that had been agreed by its own membership. His name and that of James Reynolds will now be removed from any connection to the party.
Since a split in the National Party, Barrett has embarked on creating another entity which is now known as Clann Éireann. That in itself probably informed the Commission’s view that there were not two vying “factions” within the party.
The current leadership of the National Party claims that Clann Éireann’s “presentation and strategy are anathema to that of the National Party.” Barrett himself has increasingly adopted the aesthetics and ideology of German national socialism while the NP presents itself as a traditional Irish nationalist party.
The Electoral Commission has thus decided that the Board of An Coimisiún Toghcháin “was satisfied that reasonable notice was given of the relevant meeting of the Party’s National Directorate, and that the resolutions made at that meeting were therefore validly made.”
The National Party ran in the local, European and general elections in 2024 and Patrick Quinlan became their first elected member in the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart ward for Fingal County Council. None of its candidates came close to winning a seat in the November general election.
In reaction to the decision of the Electoral Commission the Ard Comhairle of the National Party claimed that Barrett had entered an “obstructionist appeal” which had aimed to frustrate the democratic decision of the membership.
It notes that its last Ard Fheis in October 2024 elected Councillor Patrick Quinlan as its President, a fact that will now be officially recognised by the Register of Political Parties.
In reference to last weekend’s attack by far leftists on an individual who had attended a small event in Dublin at which Barrett spoke, the NP made it clear that they condemned the attack. “Whilst we profoundly disagree with Mr. Barrett’s recent antics …we fully condemn the left-wing attack against a small group of his supporters.”
There is much factionalism among what there is of an alternative nationalist movement in Ireland. That was reflected in the fact that while there has been a substantial vote for parties who are critical of the mainstream consensus on issues like abortion, immigration, the EU and other issues it remains too diffuse to be effective other than among a small group of TDs and Senators in Leinster House and at local level.
Some on the nationalist side have spoken of an analogy with the situation in nationalist politics after 1916 when disparate forces – often split by personality as well as ideological issues – came together under the banner of Sinn Féin. That party was then a small organisation but which had become associated by name with the Easter Rising. The basis for that unity was an agreement on fundamentals including the refusal to participate in institutions that were under the control of Britain at Westminster.
While polls and other evidence including the size of the diffused anti-establishment vote and the defeat of the establishment backed referendums on the family in March 2024 show that there is potential for a more effective opposition, that appears to be a long way off.