Can anybody get one or do you have to have relatives in Eire?

Could a person hold a UK and a Euro passport at the same time?

You have to be a descendant of an Irish person, I think one grandparent is enough, and you can hold multiple passports.
I’m currently trying to sort out my grandfathers birth certificate 😀

Hmm. No Gaels in the family tree…

Might see if I can get a Spanish one with my residencia.

I can have an Irish one if I want it and can have a Spanish one due to the length of time I lived there previously and the fact No.1 was born there so I can have one due to her being of dual nationality too.

Would a northern irish father count? Also, would the wife and kids be entitled?

Dunno the details but as a Brit, living in Ireland ,married to an Irish person, I can get an irish passport if I become a citizen…..but that cost about €1000! So I just renewed my British one…for now anyway.

Surely we must be able to buy a passport from one of the dodgier eu countries?
I’m sure my ancestors must have passed through Romania at some point.

Would a northern irish father count?

Yes, any parent or grandparent born on the island of Ireland. You’re automatically a citizen if he was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, but being from NI, I imagine he probably wasn’t. Just means there are more hoops (and correspondingly more €) to jump through. Not for your wife though…unless you went and lived there for a certain period of time after you’d got citizenship. Can’t remember the rules on kids – if they’re born after you get your Irish passport, then yes. Otherwise, no – not automatic.

All the rulez are here in plain English. https://www.dfa.ie/passports-citizenship/citizenship/

Not for your wife though…unless you went and lived there for a certain period of time after you’d got citizenship. Can’t remember the rules on kids – if they’re born after you get your Irish passport, then yes. Otherwise, no – not automatic.

Thanks Darcy, most helpful. There’s no point me having it if the family don’t so I’ll shitcan it I think.

There’s no point me having it if the family don’t so I’ll shitcan it I think.

You can breeze through the summer airport queues and have a beer while you’re waiting for the missus to struggle through with the young lad. 😀

Oooh. £1000. Hmmmm.

Actually, looking at the rules, I think you might be an Irish citizen already wrecker, whether you like it or not. 😀

If I bought a holiday home in eire and paid all my taxes even though I didn’t live there could I eventually be irish?

I’m currently in the middle of the application (got to resend photos) and i’m eligible because my dad was born in Dublin. He became British because he grew up here from the age of two, but then got dual citizenship with an Irish passport. All i needed was his birth ceriticate, but my cousins are having more trouble because their dad (my uncle) was born in London to Irish parents. They need loads of information about grandparents.

Actually, looking at the rules, I think you might be an Irish citizen already wrecker, whether you like it or not. 

Really? I have never lived there.
I’d certainly have no issue with it, my Irish family are lovely!

We are just starting this process. My Mum is applying for hers as her Mum was born in Wicklow. My bother and I will then apply for ours. Feeling is it will be easier if she has got hers sorted first. My husband and our Dad will be left in the queues…

But I often travel on my own for work.

wrecker – Member
Really? I have never lived there.

I’d certainly have no issue with it, my Irish family are lovely!

If a parent was born on the island i think you automatically have Irish citizenship.

Really? I have never lived there.

Neither has my boy, but he’s automatically a citizen too.

If your dad was born on the island of Ireland, then he’s automatically an Irish citizen. The rule used to be pre and post partition – May 1921 I think – but they were changed so that anyone born on the island of Ireland and their 1st and 2nd generation descendants was/were entitled. Previously if your grandparent was born in [what is now] NI, before partition, you were good to go; after partition not so.

The route for grandparent is more tortuous but I think that if your dad was born there, your route is more direct.

Soooooo, the boy will be eligible too?
It may do him a favour in the future to have Irish citizenship. Probably worthwhile if we can both get it. Looks like the wife has shat out though!
I’m going to tell her now just to see her face!

Yes, of course – forgot that one. For him, you’d need to go through the Foreign Birth register malarkey – which is a bit of a ball ache – and whether you get yours or not, he’d still have to go through the same process.

Tbh, I’d get him one anyway – it’ll always be an option for him when he’s older. Say – if he wanted to do a season working abroad or wanted to do a bit of travelling around Europe with mates. While I don’t think it’ll be impossible for him to do so obviously, it might smooth his path a bit more easily if he was an EU citizen. Neither state “bans” the notion of dual citizenship. I’m always a fan of having a passport of wherever you’re eligible for one.

My brother is going through the process (mother was Irish) and was keen to start the ball rolling for me/wife/kids but, we never go on holiday in Europe and didn’t really see the point.

He did try and explain it to me but as he travels all over the place I think it made sense for him.

Can someone explain what’s prompting you to do it? ie the pro’s, not just Britain’s exit from the EU.

Can someone explain what’s prompting you to do it? ie the pro’s, not just Britain’s exit from the EU.

I’m waiting to see what the deal is with the E.U but if it’s detrimental to business travel in any way I’ll get an Irish passport. I will have to do the jumping through hoops as it’s my grandparent (now deceased) so I have to get multiple birth/death/marriage certificates and birth registry done.

I’m hoping this will mean no carnet/equipment lists when I shoot abroad. Plus having to hand over a booklet to immigration showing I’m a member of a state that wanted to cut its nose off to spite its face.

What MrSmith says.

The only reason my lad will have one is for options when he’s older. I want him to have the opportunities for working in Europe (and will actively encourage him to do some time doing that when he’s in his late teens) that Brexit seem to want to take away from him. While not saying it’ll be impossible for him to do so as a UK citizen, I’d rather he could just breeze through with an EU passport instead of joining a different queue or having to jump through visa hoops. It’s not about forcing “Irishness” onto him.

That makes sense, never thought about the kids and it limiting their work choices.

We used to do a fair bit of travelling pre kids/starting our business so as/when we have spare time/cash it may be worth considering.

In a lucky position with direct Irish link so hopefully the door won’t be shut to us so as MrSmith suggests, will just wait and see. With all this Irish digging, turns out my cousin is the current Rose of Tralee.

Is she lovely and fair as the rose of the summer?
Is her name Mary?
😀

My passport runs out in 2019.
Can I renew it early to get one that isn’t blue?

Can I renew it early to get one that isn’t blue?

Yep, just say you lost it….

Will a replacement do 10 years or just up to when the “lost” one expires?

I’m adopted so I don’t know my birth parentage – I may have to do some research to see if I have Irish roots! 😀

Not sure how old you are the-m-m but a fair chunk of adoptions in the 60s and 70s would have been to children of unmarried Irish mothers.

Late 60’s – to be sure.

My father-in-law’s just got his Irish passport – one grandmother was born there, but only just, her mother moved there for a few weeks, gave birth, then came back to the UK. Still counts, though.

I’m thinking of renewing my US passport – the rest of the family don’t have them, but it still gives us options.

I hope all of you new (and aspiring) Plastic Paddies have read the small print on those passport applications? In short you will be required by law to do the following :

1 – Vote for a united Ireland in the inevitable post Brexit fallout referendum.
2 – Accept the Pope as your new king.
3 – Go to mass once a year.
4 – Eat chef brown sauce sandwiches.
5 – Refer to your friends as cute hoors.
6 – Memorise the national anthem as Gaeilge.
7 – Create a mental map of where the good Guinness is.
8 – Know who Daniel o’Donnell’s mother is.
9 – Refer to Gaelic as football and soccer as soccer.
10 – Cry when you hear “The Fields of Athenry”.

11. Sing Danny Boy and the Green, Green Grass of Hime after a few and have an obligatory tear in your eye – although that may have been just my FiL!

I have to send my mums uk passport again as they needed a scan of the cover. Then I’m done. She was born in Dublin and all my family in her side are still in Ireland.

I’m not sure but I believe citizenship has huge implications for my children’s future university fees.

sorted out my Irish passport in June last year, it gives options that a GB one will soon have removed. Just had to get a copy of my Dads birth Certificate from Dublin, and my own UK birth cert, some photos and some domestic bills for some reason.

And an Irish passport is credit card sized so easier to carry around when needed.

BTW the Spanish won’t (currently) let you hold dual-citizenship with the UK, you have to give up the UK nationality. Not sure though if there’s anything actually stopping you from declaring you’ve given up the UK bit, then applying for a new passport after getting your Spanish one.

* Currently: they do allow it for some south American countries, e.g. Venezuela, but not for EU countries. That may of course change given Brexit.

My grandad was half Irish, half British. Never seen his birth certificate, but I’m guessing it would show his nationality as Irish-British.

Everyone since then has been British, making me 1/8th Irish, so not a lot.

Will they have me?

‘Half Irish’ doesn’t mean anything, and birth certificates don’t show nationality. Irish citizenship law says that anyone born in the island of Ireland up to a fairly recent date (2001, I think) is an Irish citizen. The children of those are also Irish citizens wherever born. It’s not a matter of ‘applying’ for citizenship in that situation, but I can see that some people would like to apply for an Irish passport to prove citizenship. And both British and Irish law allow dual nationality and allow you to hold both passports at the same time (some countries, including, in the past, Ireland specifically prohibited dual passports).

A citizen born outside Ireland doesn’t automatically confer citizenship on his/her offspring, but they can apply for entry on the Foreign Births Registry, which involves giving evidence of Irish descent. It’s fairly easy to do, and I recall the cost for my son was fairly modest (c£35 about 10 years ago) but be aware that the DfE does make telephone calls to witnesses for registration and passport applications, and does reject the application if they can’t get hold of your witness in a reasonable time.

the DfE does make telephone calls to witnesses for registration and passport applications, and does reject the application if they can’t get hold of your witness in a reasonable time

I used a local (non litigation) solicitor as my witness (just called in with id). Cost a tenner. Was well worth it to know that he’d (almost certainly) be easy for the dfa to contact.