By Anthony Neeson
Part of the fallout from the shock Brexit vote has been the upsurge in people applying for Irish passports.
Within hours of people waking up on Friday morning to the news that the UK had voted to leave the European Union, the main post office in West Belfast had handed out over 500 Irish passport applications.
By Saturday, the main post office in central Belfast had run out of Irish passport applications forms.
On Monday, a sign on the window of a post office on the Newtownards Road in unionist East Belfast read: “Demand for Irish passport forms – unfortunately we have none left in this post office."
Ian Paisley Jnr, who campaigned with his DUP colleagues to leave the EU, was even advising people to apply for Irish passports.
He tweeted: “My advice is if you are entitled to second passport then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents.”
The story was the same in London.
It’s believed that there are up to six million people living in Britain who are eligible for Irish citizenship.
Those with at least one grandparent born on the island of Ireland can claim Irish citizenship.
An Irish passport guarantees the holder citizenship of the European Union.
The Irish Times reported that the Irish Passport Office in Kensington & Chelsea was also busy on Friday.
Jonathan Potts of Lambeth told the paper: “I don’t want to lose my freedom to live and work in twenty eight different countries and hopefully my Irish grandma will help me.”
Passport officials are now bracing themselves for what Senator Neale Richmond called the Cascarino effect, recalling former Irish soccer team manager Jack Charlton’s tactic of picking British-born players with Irish grandparents.
Another senator, Niall Ó Donnghaile, has called for the Irish government to open a passport office in Belfast to deal with demand.
“It is very clear that, in the wake of England voting to take the north of Ireland out of Europe, there has never been a larger demand for Irish passport applications in the north of Ireland,” he said.
“Passport forms have been snapped up across the north by all sections of the community and we have seen notices go up stating that, due to unprecedented demand, many places have run out of application forms and are waiting on more arriving.
“Given the fact now that there is huge uncertainty over the implications of the north of Ireland being pulled out of Europe, there is no better time for the Irish government to act.”
On Monday, to deal with growing demand, Embassy of Ireland – which provides news from the Irish Embassy in London – tweeted: “Helpful information on Passports & Citizenship, plus top passport questions, on our website www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/great-britain/passports/”
