Far-right labelled as 'buffoons in fancy dress' after Béal na Bláth stunt

Crowds at the commemoration of the centenary of the death of Michael Collins at Béal na Bláth in August 2022. Picture: Larry Cummins

The Fine Gael councillor who was instrumental in securing a statue of Michael Collins in Cork City has dismissed a 'mini rally' by far-right agitator Justin Barrett at the Béal na Bláth monument as “absurd”.

“Justin Barrett and his followers are a bunch of buffoons in fancy dress,” Cllr Shane O’Callaghan said.

"Their attempt to associate themselves with Michael Collins by holding a rally at Béal na Bláth is absurd because their twisted ideology represents the exact opposite of everything that Collins stood for."

Mr O’Callaghan, who topped the poll in Cork City’s south-central ward in the June local elections, spoke out after a near 15-minute video was posted online showing Mr Barrett, standing at the Béal na Bláth monument in West Cork, which marks the spot where Collins was assassinated 102 years ago.

In the video, Barrett introduced a new nationalist organisation, Clann Éireann, and its “protection unit”, An Sciath Nasiúnta (The National Shield), which he said would “protect the voice of Ireland”.

Mr Barrett also said the “protection unit” would act within the law but would also be ready to defend itself “with as much violence as is necessary”.

Mr Barrett, 53, who has run unsuccessfully in national and European elections, was wearing a dark black jacket, black gloves, a military-style hat, brown shirt and black tie.

Justin Barrett, right, at a protest outside Leinster House last November. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

He was flanked by up to a dozen men, also dressed in black, and wearing balaclavas or face coverings, some holding a banner and others holding tricolours.

“We will make sure that the Irish people, in the first instance, get an opportunity to hear what it is that we have to say, that we cannot be silenced, that we are not here to create violence, we are not here to provoke violence,” Mr Barrett said.

But we will protect ourselves. We will protect ourselves from the foreign invader.

“We will act within the law, we will act as peacefully as we can, but we will also be ready to protect ourselves and defend ourselves with as much violence as is necessary.” 

Mr Barrett, the former leader of the National Party, went on to claim that if accommodation centres for asylum seekers are opened “by the tens of thousands”, and if local and “political opposition” is not listened to, and if that “political opposition is physically and violently crushed by the enemies of Ireland, the Irish nation will cease to exist”.

The Michael Collins Commemoration Committee, which organises the annual commemoration at the monument every August, declined to comment on the speech.

But Mr O’Callaghan, who campaigned for the statue of Collins which was installed on the Grand Parade in October 2023, said Collins fought an empire to free an oppressed people and then established an independent, democratic Irish State.

“Barrett and his followers have no support and no mandate from the Irish public.

“Their latest antics should be treated with the ridicule that they deserve.” 

Taoiseach Simon Harris is due to deliver this year’s oration at Béal na Bláth at 3pm on Sunday.