Applying for an Irish passport

Today the Brexit negotiation process finally got underway. As someone personally appalled at the prospect of being taken out of the EU against my will, and as someone who has long struggled with my identity (as to whether I am British or Irish), I finally exercised my right last year to apply for Irish passports for myself and my two sons. We now have dual citizenship, confirming our Irish connection as well as our UK one, and maintaining EU access and rights for myself and my two boys. (I appreciate others may have a different view!)

The Belfast Telegraph is noting that the number of applications for Irish passports is not slowing up, with 833 applicants on one day alone in March (see http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/833-irish-passport-applications-from-ni-in-a-day-35839433.html). Over the course of my own application I blogged a series of posts detailing the process (as an applicant in Scotland), including what ancestral connections qualify you to apply for a passport, and which genealogical records you may need for the process. If you too are interested in obtaining an Irish passport, my posts are still available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/claiming-irish-passport-1.html - links to subsequent posts are at the end of the first article.

Good luck if you choose to go for it!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.