Justin Barrett (born 1971 in County Tipperary) is an Irish conservative nationalist, anti-abortion and anti-immigration activist. Barrett was involved in the Constitutional Rights Campaign, which unsuccessfully campaigned to prevent the ratification of the Single European Act in 1986. In 1987 he became involved in Family Solidarity, a movement established to oppose liberalisation on social issues such as abortion, contraception, gay rights and divorce. Lack of success in this area led him to the conviction that political involvement was necessary for results - he was subsequently involved in Young Fine Gael until 1991. From 1992 he became actively involved in the Irish pro-life movement, becoming the lead spokesperson 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. In 2001, Barrett was the lead spokesperson of a movement which was largely responsible for defeating the Nice Treaty referendum - a vote which was subsequently held again and pushed through. During the second Nice campaign, Barrett became the centre of a controversy over links to alleged "neo-Nazi" movements in Germany. Barrett admitted he had spoken at a NPD rally, but denied he had any sympathy with their policies and said that he had addressed the rally only in his capacity as a pro-life campaigner. [1] Supporters of Barrett accused the Irish media (in particular the Irish Times) of conducting a politically-motivated character assassination campaign against him. Whearas critics point out that his anti immigration position is consistent with the far-right groups he denies being involved with. In the European Parliament election, 2004, Barrett ran for a seat in the 'East' constituency, winning 10,997 first-preference votes, or 2.4% of the vote. [2] Later that year, while attending a debate in University College Dublin, Barrett claimed he was the victim of an assault by members of the Irish Anti-Fascist Action group. [3] Justin Barrett is married with three children. In recent years he published a book putting forth his political principles, entitled The National Way Forward! [4] In March 2004, he accompanied Gerry McGeough on a speaking tour [5].
External links
- Justin Barrett — profile from RTÉ
References
- ^ Barrett admits attending far-right party meetings in Italy, Germany — Irish Times story, 12 October 2002
- ^ Elections Ireland: Justin Barrett — election results from 2004
- ^ Justin Barrett 'Attacked' while attending UCD debate — from the Indymedia Ireland website
- ^ Way forward is a huge, hysterical step back — Sunday Business Post book review, 15 June 2003
- ^ Ex-Provo gives new life to Irish clerical fascism Searchlight, August 2006
