We will not be considered a foreign country.
Irish citizens are expected to have a special status in the UK following Brexit, according to David Davis, the UK's Brexit Secretary.
According to the Ireland Act, 1949, Ireland is regarded as "not a foreign country” for the purposes of UK laws and hence we have a special status in the UK.
Speaking to the House of Commons today, David Davis said that he doesn't believe that this situation will change following Brexit.
SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes asked Davis in the House of Commons today: “My constituents share an issue, share a concern already brought to the floor of this house by myself and also [the SDLP’s Mark Durkan] about the relationship with our closest neighbour and with our Border with the sovereign nation of Ireland, in which the Ireland Act, 1949... they talk about the common travel area but there’s no answer to this question yet.
“Would you, here on the floor of the house, say here and now that there will be no change to the rights of Irish citizens as dictated by the Ireland Act, amended in 1949?"
To which Davis responded: “It’s a very specific question and forgive me if I did not answer it before because I intend to.
“I will write to you in detail but I think the answer is there will be no change.
“The aim, as I said to you before, is that the common travel area rights - including the rights to vote, the rights to work and so on, both ways - will continue, but I will come back to you about the detail."
We already know what Gay Byrne thinks of Ireland and Brexit.
