PUBLIC
Founded in 2016, registered as a political party in 2019, the [National Party](https://nationalparty.ie/) (NP) ran 10 candidates in the 2020 General Election and is estimated to have a membership in excess of 300. Former Youth Defence militants with longstanding connections of international fascists, Justin Barrett and James Reynolds, are party leader and deputy leader. The NP party believe the state sits below the nation – made of ethnically Irish people, they refer to ‘Mother Ireland’ and can be classed as ethno-nationalist, neo-fascist. They believe in the establishment of a Catholic State, complete ban on abortion, ban on euthanasia, ban on migration and calls for the re-introduction of the death penalty. Many NP members have criminal convictions for violence, continuously target women and minority groups and have steadily increased their door step engagement pushing their white nationalist agenda, after retreating from the streets in October 2020. Although attendance at their Ard Fheis (annual conference) decreased from approximately 100 in 2019 to 60 in 2021, their social media followership (local and international) continues to increase. The NP is one of the most significant threats to community life in Ireland currently.