So, what is the National Party?
The National Party is a far-right party founded in 2016 by Justin Barrett and James Reynolds. It is a Eurosceptic and anti-abortion movement. Despite running 10 candidates in the 2020 general election, none were elected. In fact, the party garnered just 0.2 per cent of the national vote. In their guiding principles, the party says that “no law should permit the provision of abortion in Ireland”. They have also called for restoration of the death penalty for “particularly heinous crimes”. A video clip of Barrett has also appeared online, where he derides Dublin city councillor Hazel Chu and appears to threaten revocation of her citizenship if the National Party gains power. The Irish Times also previously reported that Barrett has in the past spoken at neo-Nazi events in Europe, although he later said he was not aware that the rallies had such links.
Why are they in the news?
Last Sunday night, just before 11pm, a statement was published on Twitter on behalf of Justin Barrett, in which he claimed that a “considerable quantity in gold” had been removed from a vault belonging to the National Party. He went on to make allegations about how that gold was removed from the vault and said that “as an absolute last resort” he contacted gardaí in order to “secure the vaults”.
[ Gardaí recover gold valued at €400,000 after National Party complaintOpens in new window ]
So, what happened, exactly?
Gardaí retrieved the gold and placed it in a secure location, and also estimated its worth at about €400,000. Gardaí have remained tight-lipped on the situation, saying: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on third party statements or on named individuals. An Garda Síochána is carrying out enquiries into an allegation of theft from a premises in Dublin 4.″
What happens next?
Firstly, gardaí need to establish who exactly is the legal owner of the gold. They need to determine if there is any documentation around the legal ownership, and what the law says around the same issue. Until they determine who owns the gold, they will not know whether to proceed with an investigation into how it was taken. At this time, they have not determined that there was any crime and no criminal investigation has been launched. Gardaí will also want to know the source of these gold bars: where did they come from?
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And, er, do we know where the gold came from?
The National Party has not said where the gold is from. The only explanation given was that they felt it was necessary to have stocks of gold in case of a “mishap or, more particularly, a collapse in the value of fiat currency”. Its existence was previously unknown. Under electoral law, however, all political parties are required to send details of their annual accounts to the political watchdog, the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).
According to a spokesman for Sipo, the National Party has never done this. In a further twist, Sipo said that despite it being a requirement to send the financial accounts, they have no power to sanction or penalise a party who does not do so. Also, under the existing laws, political parties are required to declare any annual political donations received either by the party, or a subsidiary organisation of that party, in excess of €1,500 from an individual or corporate donor. The limit per donor is €2,500. Foreign donations are banned.
