British people flood Irish Passport Office with enquiries about passports

The Irish Times reports that the Republic of Ireland’s passport office has been flooded with enquiries from British people seeking an Irish passport on the basis that they had a parent or grandparent who was Irish.

The same report includes the interesting information that anyone born anywhere on the geographic island of Ireland – that means also Northern Ireland – has an automatic right to a passport from the Republic of Ireland. So you can see what is going to happen next: even before Northern Ireland moves to secede from the UK and unite with the Republic of Ireland, people in Northern Ireland are going to start applying in droves for Irish passports.

This will allow them to carry on living in Northern Ireland but still be citizens of an EU member state.