Michael McDowell: How did Justin Barrett’s tiny National Party amass €400,000 in gold?

After all the controversy about Renault money and RTÉ, it was surprising that “fiat currency” should now enter the political arena at the instance of Justin Barrett, the ceannaire of the National Party. Apparently the extreme-right micro-party had stashed away gold bars with a face value of more than €400,000 in what he described as a “party vault” in southeast Dublin.

The political establishment is scratching its collective head wondering exactly how such a tiny political party could amass bullion to that value, let alone distrust the value of the euro so much as to keep its assets in physical form as gold, which fluctuates in value by reference to such arcane factors as Russian and South African mining output and worldwide market concerns about global stability.

More amusing was the purported summary dismissal and expulsion of two members, whom Barrett claimed online to have entrusted with access to the party vault. He alleged online that they had removed the “party reserves” in bullion from the party vault, reserves that he said had been “dearly gathered by the sacrifice of party members and supporters”.

[ Failure of National Party to submit financial information will not result in sanction - Sipo ]

[ Gardaí recover gold valued at €400,000 after National Party complaint ]

Allegedly unable to contact the two members, Barrett reported the matter to the Garda as “an absolute last resort”.

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Each of these people appears to be entirely innocent of wrongdoing, as gardaí quickly ascertained the whereabouts of the bullion, took possession of it and are not currently investigating any criminal offence arising from the removal of the gold bars.

Hilariously, he tweeted that he was refraining from speculation about the two members’ motives but continued that their action was “objectively despicable, illegal and traitorous”. It was, he claimed, “traitorous to the party, and insofar as the party is the last vanguard of the Irish nation in an hour of deep distress, a traitorous act against Ireland too”.

Consequently, the members were “expelled entirely from the National Party”, he tweeted. And to seal their fates, he added the words: “Sin Ordú”. That sounds rather final. He commented that a “gangrenous limb cannot be accommodated only amputated”.

Lest the expelled members feel lonely in their traitorous condition, it is as well to remember that the National Party website regards Dáil Éireann as an “assembly of traitors”.

He went so far as to predict that one of the expellees with access to the media might publish an alternative account of these events but said it would be “untrue”.

Party members were reassured that it would emerge from “this fire and trial. Heat make iron into steel”.

The National Party is largely a product of Barrett’s imagination and remains his creature. Images available online of him attending an election count at the RDS in 2021 suggest that he arranged to be escorted by a group of uniformly clothed security guards.

Likewise, a video clip of Barrett deriding Dublin city councillor Hazel Chu is available online in which he appears to threaten revocation of her citizenship if the National Party gains power.

For full-blown aficionados of the exotic side of Irish politics, his lengthy monologues at National Party conferences have been posted online as well.

The very real question remains as to where the €400,000 gold bullion in the party vault came from in the first place. He suggests that it came from the sacrifices of party members and supporters.

[ Central banks load up on gold in response to rising geopolitical tensions ]

If it is derived from donations or was donated in specie, the question arises as to who the donors were – and whether such donations must be accounted for under the Electoral Acts. The party has not reported donations of that order to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) in the last few years.

The party has never submitted details of party finances to Sipo, but the commission has said it does not have powers to penalise the party.

These events raise several points to ponder. Why, having reported the matter to the gardaí, did Barrett feel the need to go public? How was that in the interests of the micro-party?

Why, if the two members’ motives were unknown, were they expelled summarily and their actions described as traitorous to the party and Ireland? How were they suddenly classified by Barrett as gangrenous and worthy of amputation?

Do the party’s rules provide for such action? Presumably the rules were lodged with the Registrar of Political Parties.

The party’s guiding “nine principles” include reintroduction of the death penalty and a total ban on abortion.

Six years since foundation, they have never come within an ass’s roar of securing any type of seat in any election. Are you reassured?