Rights of the Irish

SIR – Philip Johnston (“The EU rights of Northern Ireland citizens open another can of worms”, Comment, December 27) is not alone in having the option to retain EU citizenship through his Irish origins.

There are around 6.7 million people in the UK who don’t already have an Irish passport but who are entitled to one through a parent or grandparent.

That’s only 10 per cent of the population, but it’s a lot more than the population of the Republic of Ireland, which is 4.8 million. Dr John Doherty

Stratford-upon-avon, Warwickshire