The party was founded in 2016, by Justin Barrett as party president and James Reynolds as party vice president. The National Party had planned to hold its press launch in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin but the event was cancelled by the hotel, which subsequently said it had done so for "public safety reasons". There had been much adverse reaction online to the announcement of the launch. The party's press release claimed they seek to espouse the "true spirit of the Republic". Barrett, who was raised in County Tipperary, has a background in anti-abortion and anti-immigration politics, formerly being a leading figure in Youth Defence and campaigning against the Treaty of Nice. Barrett attracted media attention due to his participation in events in both Germany and Italy organised by far right parties, the National Democratic Party and Forza Nuova, respectively, in the 1990s. Barrett has denied sharing their far right views and said he attended these events in his capacity as an anti-abortion campaigner. In 2016, in an interview where he incorrectly overstated the levels of migration to Ireland by a factor of three, he called his attendance at these meetings "a mistake". Reynolds, from County Longford, was the County Longford affiliate for Youth Defence in the early 1990s. He was associated with the Libertas Ireland political party in 2009, and campaigned for a no vote in the Fiscal Compact referendum in 2012 as chairman of the small Farmers for No group. Reynolds was previously the Longford county chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association, and national treasurer of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association. He was suspended from the IFA in 2012 for "bringing the county executive into disrepute". In March 2017 he secured a temporary High Court injunction preventing his dismissal as national treasurer of the ICSA, but the High Court upheld his dismissal from the role in June 2017.
The party held its first Ardfheis in November 2017, at Donald Trump'sDoonbeg hotel in County Clare. Approximately fifty delegates attended. Justin Barrett criticised Fine Gael in his speech for not calling its annual conference an ardfheis. John Wilson, a guest speaker from County Cavan, challenged homophobic comments made by deputy leader James Reynolds. Barrett defended Reynolds' comments and reportedly answered in the affirmative when asked by Wilson whether the National Party was "only for straight Irish people". Wilson then walked out in protest at the comments.
Abortion Never campaign
Abortion Never was formed as a No campaign by the National Party in March 2018 to contest the 2018 referendum to legislate for abortion. Abortion Never presented itself as "an Irish nationalist anti-abortion campaign." At the launch of the campaign, Barrett stated that if the abortion referendum passed, it would lead to euthanasia for the elderly; "It doesn't just begin with abortion and stop there. It ends in euthanasia, because they already have a plan. You see discussions in the newspapers sometimes, 'What are we going to do about the pensions crisis?'". At the same event, he called for the abortion referendum campaign to be "as divisive as possible". The referendum was ultimately approved by 66.4% of voters.
Descriptions of the National Party in the press have ranged from it being right wing to far-right. The party has a set of "Nine Principles", which espouse a nationalist, anti-abortion, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration platform. . Barrett has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering Ireland and for greater vetting efforts to be made, stating that "all of them are potentially dangerous", though he later clarified that he does not believe Ireland needs a complete ban on Muslims entering the country. The party also favours racial profiling. The party supports a renegotiation of Ireland's relationship with the EU, including a withdrawal from the Eurozone, but does not support exiting the European Union itself. They have described the EU as "dictatorial". The party makes an irredentist claim on Northern Ireland; the first of its "nine principles" is copied from the old Article 2 of the Irish Constitution: "The National Party believes that the territory of Ireland consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas." It advocates the reintroduction of the death penalty for "particularly heinous crimes". The party opposes same-sex marriage, stating that it is "against gay marriage, but not gay people". In 2016, Barrett declared marriage equality a "sham" and "not natural." The party opposes allowing any law permitting abortion in Ireland, supports repeal of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, and refers to the X Case as "obtuse". The party endorsed a No vote in the abortion referendum, and campaigned against it through the Abortion Never campaign. Barrett has spoken in support of a form of economic nationalism which he deemed "intelligent protectionism".
