British Citizens Seek Irish Passport

The Irish foreign ministry received over 50,000 passport applications from Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the first quarter of 2017 alone, compared to approximately 30,000 over the same period last year – a 69 percent increase.

The demand is enough that the foreign department is said to be hiring extra staff and has launched an online passport renewal service. At the start of this year, it was revealed that 733,060 Irish passports were issued last year, a rise of nine percent over 2015, with an estimated 65,000 given to Britons – a 42 percent increase.

After the Brexit referendum, Ireland saw an 83 percent rise in applications, from the U.K., for Irish passports. Ten members of parliament are reportedly among the number of persons who have applied for Irish passports.