No mystery here.
Brexit has been such a success that tens of thousands of British people are choosing to become Irish instead.
Indeed, new data highlighted by Fine Gael senator Neale Richmond suggests that more United Kingdom citizens are looking to become Irish citizens than ever before.
“Figures released by the Department of Foreign Affairs show the rise in number of applications for Irish passports in the first six weeks of 2019, to be considerably higher when compared to the same period in 2018,” said Richmond on Wednesday.
“During the first six weeks of 2018, a total of 73,894 passports were issued. This figure has risen to 93,301 in the first six weeks of 2019.” This represents an increase of over 20%.
2018 set the record for most Irish passport applications ever, with 200,000 applications from UK citizens alone.
Under Irish citizenship laws, a citizen is either the child or grandchild of an existing Irish citizen and they are thus eligible for an Irish passport. Similarly, Irish citizens are immediately party to all the rights that come with being a citizen of an EU state — rights that Britons look set to lose on 29 March.
“There is no such thing as a good Brexit and the continuing confusion over the future relationship caused by the obfuscation of Westminster is clearly having a knock-on effect on those seeking to guarantee the rights they currently enjoy,” Senator Richmond said.
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