Scramble for Irish passports
BRITONS with Irish ancestry have been stampeding to obtain a passport from Dublin – so that they are not shut out of the European Union following the turmoil of Brexit.
The Irish Passport Office in London has reported a surge in demand for its services, while officials in Belfast reportedly ran out of all non-Gaelic passport application forms.
It came as former Republic of Ireland Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned Brexit could lead to the break-up of the UK – and renew pressure for a united Ireland.
Anyone with a parent born in either the Republic or Northern Ireland has an automatic right to Eire citizenship, while those with one Irish grandparent – or even a great-grandparent in certain circumstances – can claim a passport if they register with the Dublin authorities.
Up to six million Britons may be eligible and long queues formed at the London passport office late on Friday, with many applicants saying they wanted to retain the right to move freely around the EU. Jonathan Potts, of South London, said: ‘I don’t want to lose my freedom to live and work in 28 different countries and hopefully my Irish grandma will help me.’
Even fiercely Unionist politician Ian Paisley Junior said yesterday: ‘My advice is if you are entitled to second passport, then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents. My advice is to take as many [passports] as you can.’
The Irish Passport Service took on 200 staff earlier this year as insurance against the increased demand Brexit would bring. Mr Ahern, who was Taoiseach, or prime minister, from 1997 to 2008, predicted that Scotland would stage another independence vote as early as next year, which would fuel calls from Irish nationalists for the north and south to unite.
The 64-year-old also predicted that border controls would be reintroduced between the two parts of Ireland – resulting in a ‘return of the old tensions’.
He said: ‘Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers has said all along that there’ll be no problems at the border if a Brexit were to happen. She knows damn well there will be. I never thought I would see a border between the north and south of the country again. It’s sad.’
Mr Ahern also expressed his fears that immigrants would increasingly see the Republic of Ireland as the best way to enter Britain illegally. He said: ‘I heard people over the last few days talking about beefing up security at Dublin airport to prevent this. I think that’s very naive – these people can arrive at literally hundreds of ports around our coastline and I fear they will.’ On Boris Johnson, he added: ‘I was listening to him carefully during his Leave campaign and he certainly wasn’t making much sense to me other than beating the drum about British sovereignty and them standing on their own.’