Rise in number of British nationals becoming naturalised Irish citizens

There has been a huge rise in the number of British nationals becoming naturalised Irish citizens according to the Department of Justice.

The trend follows the Brexit referendum in the UK, with many British people applying for Irish passports through their family lineage.

However, there are roughly 300,000 UK citizens living in Ireland, and around a third do not qualify for Irish citizenship through their family line.

Many of these people are now applying to become a naturalised Irish citizen, on the basis that they have lived and worked in the country for years and wish to continue to do so.

Fine Gael Senator Neale Richmond said: “It’s absolutely massive. We’ve seen in the last four years the annual numbers applying for Irish citizenship going from 51 to 54 to 98 and just last year 529.

“That’s over five times as many people in 2017 who sought citizenship here compared to the previous year.

“With the two years following the Brexit referendum and the ongoing talks, it’s a huge spike.

“There’s about 300,000 UK citizens living in Ireland. However, about a third of those don’t qualify for passports through lineage, either a grandparent or a parent.

“So we’re seeing more UK citizens who live in Ireland, have lived in Ireland a long time and want to stay in Ireland take the leap and paying a considerable amount of money to take out full citizenship.”

Written by Andrew Moore