'Dramatic’ surge in UK applications for Irish passports in wake of Brexit, says ambassador

Applications for Irish passports among Britons have surged by 70 per cent in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Dan Mulhall, Ireland's ambassador to the UK, said the “dramatic” rise was partly driven by people exploiting their familial links to the country in order to continue to enjoy the benefits of EU membership.

"The increase this year, the first few months of this year, over last year is up 70 per cent, that's the demand for Irish passports from people based in Britain,” he said.

"Also of course people applying for Irish citizenship through a grandparent, that's gone up quite dramatically."

Around 50,000 Irish passports are usually issued in Britain each year, but 70,000 were issued in 2016, Mr Mulhall said.

People born in Northern Ireland have an automatic right to Irish citizenship, while British people with an Irish parent, or in certain circumstances an Irish grandparent, also have an automatic right to become Irish citizens.

"We've seen significant percentage increases, the overall numbers are still not dramatic," Mr Mulhall told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

His comments come as the latest figures showed a "statistically significant" drop of 84,000 in net migration to the UK, driven by a big increase in EU citizens leaving the country as well as a smaller fall in people coming to the country.

The increase in demand for Irish passports is so great that extra staff are understood to have been drafted in to help deal with applications.

Charlie Flanagan, Ireland’s foreign minister, said last month it was “reasonable to assume that there are large numbers of people of Irish descent who now feel that they would like to remain as EU citizens in what is a changing time in relations between Ireland and the UK”.

The number of applications for British citizenship from people living in the EU has also jumped since the Brexit vote.

Passport Office figures, obtained by the Financial Times, show more than 13,000 people living elsewhere in the EU applied for a British passport last year – an increase of 35 per cent on a year earlier.

The larger number of applicants were living in France, while those in Germany seeking British citizenship rose by 60 per cent.