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AN INTERNAL SPAT has emerged within the far-right National Party following the release this morning of a statement saying Justin Barrett has been removed as the party’s president and has been replaced by the party’s deputy leader James Reynolds.
According to the statement posted on the party’s Twitter account, Barrett was removed as president in mid-July due to “an overwhelming lack of confidence from active party members”.
Barrett responded to what he described as the “farcical” statement on Telegram and said he remains the party’s leader “in law”.
The statement posted on the National Party’s Twitter account read: “Mr Barrett’s hands-off leadership style over the past number of years allowed the party to go to seed.
“Several of his recent strategic decisions generated opposition in the party and resulted in a lack of confidence in his leadership.”
In a statement today, Reynolds said he has “no wish” to enter an “unedifying public dispute” with Barrett.
“Despite recent events, I thank him for his past service and wish him well for the future.
“As the new leader of the National Party, I intend to oversee a process of root-and-branch reforms to put the party on a stable footing during this transitional period,” Reynolds said.
He added that a full statement will be released “at a later time”.
Barrett disputed the comments made by Reynolds, and implied that the action went against the National Party’s Constitution.
Last week, the National Party made headlines after it was alleged that €400,000 worth of gold had been stolen from the party.
The story died down almost as soon as it was reported, with a suggestion from sources that no crime had been committed.
The National Party is a registered political party founded in 2016. However the party has failed to submit any financial statements to the Standards in Public Office Commission since its establishment.
It describes itself as a “nationalist, Eurosceptic and pro-life” organisation “best known for advocating a reversal of mass-immigration policies”.
On its website, it lists nine principles which act as something of a manifesto, which encompasses everything from the party’s position on a United Ireland, to its opposition to abortion, to its aim to legislate for the return of the death penalty in Ireland.
It has no elected TDs or senators.
With reporting from Stephen McDermott
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What ìďìòt thought that this would be OK.
That is the most dreadful thing to happen, putting so many lives in danger. Heads should roll over this.
@Playmisty4me: What heads? If you were my boss and against policy I published private company records, should you be fired?
@Playmisty4me: but they won’t
If I want to pay off a few quid off my credit card on-line, I have to go thro three or four processes, before I can do it, yet the PSNI data was easily transferred to anyone who wanted to download it. Unbelievable lack of basis common sense
What a lawless state, the six counties! Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland said “some (PSNI) might be working for the security services in MI5″
The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill was introduced into parliament in September 2020, became law in the UK in 2021. This law provides MI5, in explicit terms, with the power, through its officers (those in MI5′s employ), to authorise its ‘agents’ to engage in conduct (including crimes at the very upper level of seriousness)that would normally constitute one criminal offence or another.
We know from the De silva report that agents acting on information given to them by security services went on to murder Belfast solicitor, Pat Finucane and their crime was and is covered up by these “security” services. De Silva concluded – inter alia – that he was ‘left in significant doubt as to whether Patrick Finucane would have been murdered by the UDA in February 1989 had it not been for the different strands of involvement by elements of the State’
These agencies are acting outside the law and, incredibly, are working alongside Irish agencies in many cases.
It’s time to evaluate our cooperation with British security services and, just maybe, begin acting like a lawful republic
@John John: Provo or not, it is illegal to murder someone. If the British state was involved, it is even worse.
Storming needs to return to work and earn their pay. Northern Ireland have many issues that need to be addressed now not somewhere down the road
@5PHcsqEN: my comment should say Stormont
That’s a lot of sensitive data, open online for 3 hours. The online server will have logfiles indicating if any of the data was accessed or downloaded. The very least they’ll see is the number of times the active online page was accessed, I would expect that the webserver log will also give details of IP numbers. A little detective work required to estimate the possible extent of the damage, and estimate the risk properly.
@Tom Hogarty: for sure , but also raises some bigger concerns for the levels of cyber security in the force / if one individual is able to access this level of data this should trigger all sorts of alarms for their internal processes / extra embarrassing that it’s the most sensitive data for the whole force including mi5 operatives / frankly unbelievable and exposes the risk that one crooked worker could be bribed to access all this valuable data in the first place / safe to assume this ain’t cyber security best practice by the police of all organisations / mind boggles
@Dave Hammond: come on, the IT support guys would have had ample access to their dbms at anytime given what is now known
Amateurs and a failed state. The hits just keep on coming
Sad to think that both of the police forces on this island have become afraid of what the thugs & terrorists might do to them, while they (the thugs) have zero such concerns. Well done the civil liberties (without responsibilities) groups.
No “four eye principle” ???
Management level needs replacing.
i hope no IRA cowards got any info
@TomDuffy: Fortunately for you, you can hide behind your keyboard typing about ‘IRA côwârds’.
Oh no. Anyway
His majesty finest
HI John john
Wow, there’s a new strain of Covid and I couldn’t give a ŞΗϯҭ
have your say