A far-right Irish political party says someone stole 'a considerable quantity in gold' they were hoarding in case the economy collapsed

• The leader of Ireland's far-right National Party says members of the party stole gold bars from its vault.
• The Party had been hoarding the gold in case of an economic collapse.

A far-right Irish political party says members of its organization stole a "considerable quantity in gold" from the party's safe, money it was hoarding in case the economy collapsed.

In a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday, the leader of the minor nationalist National Party, Justin Barrett, accused two party members of stealing gold from the party's safe vault in Dublin.

Barrett said the Party's reserve of gold was kept "in case of a mishap in general or more particularly a collapse in the value of fiat currency" and had been "dearly gathered by the sacrifice of Party members and supporters, over these many years."

The Irish police, known as the Gardaí, found the gold bars, which they valued at over $443,000, the Irish Times reported on Monday.

The Gardaí are investigating who the gold legally belongs to, and if any crime was actually committed, the outlet reported.

The Gardaí told Insider that it does not comment on "third party statements" or on "named individuals," but that it is "carrying out inquiries into an allegation of theft from a premises in Dublin 4."

Barrett had railed against the theft from his organization — which was founded in 2016 and has no elected officials in office.

"The action is/was objectively despicable, illegal, and traitorous both 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," Barrett wrote in his statement.

Barrett added that the two members who he believes stole the gold have been expelled from the Party, because, he says, "A gangrenous limb cannot be accommodated, only amputated."