Brexit: Ireland records a drop in passport applications from the British
The Irish passport has been a key to the British since Brexit.
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Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Ireland has seen a drop in first passport applications, especially from the British.
Ireland is very generous with its citizenship to descendants of Irish people.
Since Brexit, many Britons have tried to obtain the European passport.
The first half of 2021 marks a slowdown in the rush.
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With our correspondent in Dublin
,
Emeline Vin
Since January, only 24,000 Britons have applied for an Irish passport.
60% less compared to before the pandemic.
The drop is mainly due to health restrictions, Irish services remained confined until May.
To catch up, the ministry has also decided not to examine the British requests for the moment because they represent 70% of pending files!
►Also listen: Brexit: Irish passport rush
The proportion has remained stable since 2017. This success has several reasons.
Already, for Her Majesty's subjects, it's actually quite easy to get the burgundy passport.
You only need to have at least one Irish born parent or grandparent to be eligible.
And this is the case for many British people, because of the history between these two countries.
In 2016, the BBC estimated the number of potential applicants to be around 6.5 million, more than the number of people in the Republic of Ireland.
And then, an Irish passport is above all a European passport.
It's a way of getting around the new post-Brexit rules.
Since the referendum in 2016, half a million Britons have been granted Irish citizenship.
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