[3][7] James Reynolds, later deputy president of the National Party was a County Longford Youth Defence member in the early 1990s.

[10][11] The National Library of Ireland formerly described Youth Defence as "a pro-life organisation and lobby group with strong neo-Nazi links".

[16][17][18][19][20] During the 2002 Second Treaty of Nice referendum it was revealed that Justin Barrett had attended and spoken at neo-nazi party events in Germany and Italy.

Youth Defence denied having "any relationship whatsoever" with the National Democratic Party of Germany, calling it a "media smear campaign".

It is nonsense to contend that speaking at a neo-fascist rally somehow serves the interest of building a more caring pro-life culture or the broader human rights agenda, which he claims to espouse.

[22] Of particular attraction was the participation of... the leader of the National Alliance from the USA, Dr William Pierce and, last but not least, the leader of a noteworthy Irish anti-abortion group, Justin Barret (sic) from Youth Defense (sic).A leading far-right politician in Germany has described the anti-abortion group Youth Defence as "an important part of our international network".

In an editorial on the Forza Nuova website, the movement calls itself a "friend" of Barrett and praises his efforts to defeat the Nice Treaty.

[27] [38] [39][40] As part of the dirty war waged by "liberals" against "nationals", the greatest exponent of the nationalist front Justin Barrett, he was attacked in a press campaign of the kind to which we were accustomed us in the past.

FN and NPD are, in the mind of the accusers, friends whose Barrett should be ashamed[41]In 1997 Youth Defence picketed the home of then Labour TD Róisín Shortall.

[48] In March 1999 Youth Defence picketed a clinic of the Irish Family Planning Association on Cathal Brugha Street.

The IFPA got a High Court order restraining Youth Defence from picketing its offices or intimidating its employees or customers.

[53] Pro-choice users of the website Broadsheet.ie encouraged supporters to call upon advertising companies to pull the adverts, saying that the text used misinformation.

"[55] TheJournal.ie later alleged that Youth Defence had breached copyright terms and conditions in using an image of a woman depicted on the posters, by failing to print a disclaimer that the billboard showed a posed model.

[58] On 27 June 2013, during the public debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, a Youth Defence billboard truck parked outside the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre with the anti-abortion slogan of "The abortion bill won't make women safer, it will just kill babies".

AdMobile, the billboard company, said that the driver was taking a photograph of the truck as required by contract and was unaware of the proximity of the Rape Crisis Centre.

Youth Defence said at the time that they did not instruct the company to photograph the billboard outside the Rape Crisis Centre,[59] and in July 2016 again denied that they had parked the vehicle, describing the accusation as an "old... vicious lie".

On 24 September 2016, Youth Defence activists were filmed and photographed attempting to infiltrate the Abortion Rights Campaign's "March for Choice" event.

[73] The Irish Times reported in March 2013 that the Standards in Public Office Commission has been attempting to investigate Youth Defense's sources of funding, but that the organisation has thus far refused to cooperate.