Demand for Irish passports surges in UK

New data show applications up 50 percent since last year's decision by British voters to leave EU

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - The number of people applying for an Irish passport in the U.K. has increased 50 percent since the British public decided to leave the EU last year.

More than 100,000 Irish passports have been issued in the U.K. between June 2016 and the same month this year, according to data revealed by Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday.

The Republic of Ireland remains an EU member and many people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland are entitled to Irish -- and EU -- citizenship by either birthright or descent.

The sudden increase in applications is being attributed to Brexit, which is expected to reach a final phase in June 2019.

The surge is thought to reflect the ambition of those who have Irish ancestry to have both British and Irish passports to minimize the effects on their rights in the U.K. and in the EU after Brexit.

Anyone who has an Irish parent or grandparent born in Ireland can apply for an Irish passport.

The rush for Irish passports to secure a post-Brexit EU identity has brought about a 59 percent surge in applications in Northern Ireland too.

However, the Irish passports and the rights coming with them are signaling new problems ahead for Northern Ireland, which will provide the only land border between the U.K. and an EU member.

Last week, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said MEP seats held by the U.K. will be redistributed and suggested voters in Northern Ireland should still be able to vote in Republic of Ireland constituencies to ensure representation in Brussels.

However, a unionist Northern Irish MP rejected the proposal, claiming it would breach the 1998 Belfast Agreement which brought peace to the divided region after 40 years of conflict.

The Democratic Unionist lawmaker, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said there is "no chance" his party would accept such an arrangement.

A referendum held on June 23, 2016 saw U.K. voters endorse Brexit but 56 percent of Northern Ireland voters chose to remain in the EU.

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