Justin Barrett claims victory in National Party leadership row

Justin Barrett, the ousted leader of the divided right-wing National Party, is re-claiming the throne after the Electoral Commission decided to reject applications from opposing factions for the right to use the party name in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Barrett was replaced as leader last July by James Reynolds, who accused his rival of allowing the party “to go to seed”.

The takeover triggered a complaint from Barrett about party funds — and that resulted in €400,000 in gold bars being confiscated by An Garda Síochána.

Both Mr Barrett and Mr Reynolds had separately applied to the Electoral Commission for the right to use the name ‘National Party’ in the local and European elections.

On Friday, Registrar of Elections Art O’Leary, announced in the state journal, Iris Oifigiúil, that he does not propose “to amend the party’s registration” in respect of “the address of the party headquarters, the authorised officers or the details of the accounting units.”

This means that both Mr Barrett and Mr Reynolds will continue to be jointly listed as authorised officers of the National Party, with the address of the party continuing to be Mr Barrett’s home address in Granard, Co Longford.

On his Telegram account yesterday, Mr Barrett — who founded the National Party — claimed victory.

“I have in front of me here a signed letter from the Electoral Commission chairman acknowledging that I am the president of the National Party. Order is restored!” he wrote.

Attempts to contact Mr Reynolds yesterday were unsuccessful.

The decision of the Electoral Commission can be appealed.

The outcome also raises questions about the fate of the €400,000 in gold bullion that was confiscated by gardaí following the leadership heave last year.

James Reynolds last month told the Sunday Independent that only €50,000 of the €400,000 in bullion belonged to the National Party. The remaining €350,000 worth of gold belonged to him and another party member, he said.

He said the tiny political organisation had invested its €45,000 savings in 800 grams of gold after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 to protect the party’s asset against inflation. He claimed the party lodged the gold in a secure vault in Dublin, where he and a colleague also held their own personal gold investments.

Following the heave against Mr Barrett, Mr Reynolds said he moved the party’s gold to a new safety deposit box, unleashing a series of “bizarre” and “fantastical” events — that culminated in gardaí confiscating €400,000 worth of gold bars.

Reynolds said reports of the National Party’s supposed €400,000 fortune were “nonsense”, and added that most of the gold seized was “privately owned”.

The €400,000 in gold remains in garda custody waiting to be claimed.

The National Party was founded in 2016, on a right-wing anti-immigration and anti-abortion platform.

Mr Barrett, its president, is a former member of militant Catholic organisation, Youth Defence, and was in the past criticised for attending neo-Nazi rallies in Europe. He was the chair of the No to Nice campaign and ran as an election candidate. The party’s vice president, Mr Reynolds, is also a former member of Youth Defence, and was ousted as national treasurer of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association in 2017.

The National Party has failed elect a single candidate. It is contesting the European and local elections in a number of constituencies.

A statement from the Electoral Commission said it considered a number of submissions made by both sides and “it has been decided by the Registrar that there were significant procedural difficulties with both applications”. As a result, it decided no changes will be made to the Register of Political Parties.