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A sourced reference · justinbarrett.ie

The National Partyfounded, then lost, by Justin Barrett

Justin Barrett founded the National Party in November 2016. He was removed as its president in July 2023 by his own deputy. The Electoral Commission confirmed the removal in 2025. The party's registered leader is now Patrick Quinlan. The sourced record is below.

I. Founding (2016)

Mr Barrett founded the National Party in November 2016 and served as its president. The party registered, contested elections, and built the small organisational footprint described in the reporting below. The Journal Wikipedia

II. The removal (2023)

In July 2023 Mr Barrett was removed as president by his deputy, James Reynolds, who set out his reasons in an open letter published on the party's own website. Among the reasons cited were “a fanciful belief in an impending economic Armageddon which would inexplicably propel the National Party to power” and the use, by Mr Barrett, of party funds to buy himself a €13,000 car after Gardaí seized his original vehicle for being driven on a learner's permit. Mr Barrett denied the removal. National Party (open letter) The Journal

III. The disputed “meetings” (2024)

In September 2024 a purported meeting of the National Party — attended, in person, by one person — passed a motion to “remove” Mr Barrett. The Electoral Commission ruled that particular meeting invalid on procedural grounds. The Journal RTÉ News The Irish Times

IV. The Electoral Commission ruling (2025)

In September 2025 the Electoral Commission rejected Mr Barrett's appeal, confirming the legitimacy of the National Party's October 2024 AGM and his removal as leader. The Register of Political Parties was updated on 24 September 2025. The party's registered leader is Patrick Quinlan. Electoral Commission Wikipedia

So the plain answer to the question most readers arrive with — is Justin Barrett the leader of the National Party? — is no. He founded it; he led it from 2016 to 2023; he was removed; the State's electoral regulator has confirmed as much. He now leads a separate, smaller organisation, Clann Éireann.

V. A note on this page

The text is original. No quotation has been invented; no claim is made that is not supported by the linked source. Quotations are reproduced from the open letter, the newspapers of record and the Electoral Commission, and are published in reliance on the truth (s.16) and public-interest (s.26) defences of the Defamation Act 2009. Corrections of fact, supplied with a public source, are welcome at info@justinbarrett.ie.

Better Barretts, better Justins · and one electorate

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese, XLIII (1850) · a better Barrett

We counted, too: 10,997 votes in 2004; 183 in 2021.

“Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honour and love only what is true, declining to follow traditional opinions, if these be worthless.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology, ch. II (c. AD 155), trans. Ante-Nicene Fathers · a better Justin

The name comes from the Latin iustus: just, upright. Some bearers took it seriously.

“183.”
The electorate of Dublin Bay South, by-election, July 2021 (0.68% of first preferences) · the record

Eleventh of fifteen candidates. The electorate has not been asked to elaborate.

“10,997.”
The electorate of the East constituency, European Parliament election, 2004 (2.4%) · the record

Seventeen years later, in Dublin Bay South: 183.

“1.”
In-person attendance at the September 2024 National Party meeting called to remove him · The Irish Times

The Electoral Commission ruled that meeting invalid. A later one was not.

“We have been stood on since 1745. We mention it only for context.”
The steps of Leinster House, in a statement they did not make

That one is fiction, and labelled as such. The November 2023 incident it refers to is not.

Every quotation here is verbatim and in the public domain, or is a figure from the published record. No words have been put in Mr Barrett’s mouth. The one fictional speaker is a flight of steps, and says so.

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