Irish Passports?

Yes, I got mine after Brexit. Never been to Ireland ( it’s on my bucket list) but my dad was adopted by an Irish couple which is how I was able to go on the foreign birth register.

My parents were born in Ireland, so I could have one, but don’t.

One of our sons does have one as well as a British passport. He’s neve been to Ireland.

Can you pronounce Caoimhe? And no, it is not Keeva!

Sometimes it is, apparently! Caoiminh Kelleher uses the 'Kee-vin' pronunciation rather than the 'Quee-vin' that English commentators tend to use.

I wouldn't expect any better from someone from Cork! (Insert roll eye emoji here)

I do. Currently live in Northern Ireland but born in England and mum is Irish. Will return to GB at some point and keep the passport. Why are you asking?

I have Irish citizenship; not the passport yet. I got it after Brexit. I've been to Eire once and Northern Ireland once. I also never knew my Irish grandfather; he died years before I was born.

Most Irish people I've mentioned it to have been mildly amused and generally welcoming about it. I'm not claiming cultural Irishness, just citizen rights that I'm entitled to. My main motivation was making sure DC could apply for the same and retain EU freedom of movement.

🤣🤣🤣

Hang on…isn’t DH British though? (I really do apologise if I’m being very dense, as I’m not firing on even half my cylinders today)

If so, he’s covered in terms of freedom to live and work in Ireland by the CTA from long before anyone dreamed of a European Union. No paperwork necessary bar his UK passport.
He can retire here as easily as his Irish wife can, and his pension is easily transferred. He can of course acquire citizenship too, by living in Ireland with his wife for three years.
(He can also go it alone like any British citizen, and that requires five years’ residence)

Disregard the foregoing if DH is in fact Belgian, or Maltese!

I do, I was born in Cork and moved to England as a teenager. I don’t have a UK passport. My children have both. I visit Ireland all of the time, 8 or 9 times a year

Oi; watch it, like!

I should add, I think you’d still need the ETIAS, but there will be a box to tick stating that you’re a family member accompanying an EU citizen. You’d need to carry proof of the relationship though, and perhaps a copy of the relevant EU directive would be prudent.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/762303/EPRS_BRI(2024)762303_EN.pdf

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32004L0038

Just making out the V sound from those consonants should qualify a person as Irish! 🤣

Unless you were born on the island of Ireland or were on the foreign births register yourself before your children were born, your citizenship will not pass down to them.

I have an Irish passport through marriage. Our children all have Irish passports as well as Australian (through me). I have been to Ireland many many times. My in-laws are there as well as a huge extended family that my kids are an active part of.

I assumed the plan was more about an Irish woman and her British husband wanting to retire to somewhere sunny (sorry Ireland, my adopted, damp and never-visited homeland!)

You're right, any British citizen has pretty much the same rights in Ireland as an Irish citizen through the Common-Travel Area. The attraction of an Irish passport is more to do with access to other EU member states.

Irish passport through marriage?

I'm in the process of applying for mine and am very close to my family there, always have been. We go back for the annual cemetery mass and again for another visit through the year.

always gain half a stone and a full heart 😂

You really don’t! My DCs all born in England have got Irish passports through me being Irish. Applied with proof of my birth & marriage certificate (to show name change) & other general forms of ID. No need for them to be registered anywhere.

I thought passport through marriage was only possible if you also had residency for 3 years? Otherwise my English DH would have applied a long time ago as he’s still not over Brexit (& sorely misses his EU passport).

Yeah I did check the regulations, and I was on the FBR when they were born. I applied when I was pregnant and the Registry Office expedited it for me. They actually couldn't have been more helpful.

This is right. Marriage just gives a faster route to naturalisation. You'd still need to live on the island or Ireland (could include NI) for at least 3 out of the past 5 years before applying, including 1 full year of continuous residence immediately before the application.

Yes, it’s more about residency than marriage though, marriage only reduces the normal residency required to claim citizenship by naturalisation.
You don’t get Irish citizenship by marrying an Irish person and living outside Ireland, I’m wondering why the poster was magically able to. She seemed to suggest she had been on trips rather than living there for an extended period of time.

I've got an Irish passport. It was when I was watching the World Cup in 1990 that I learned that I was eligible for an Irish passport - like many of the team members, I have a grandmother who was born in Dublin when Ireland was part of the UK. My gran had the posh Irish accent - like Wilfred Brambell's real life accent.

In 1990 my gran was very much alive and well. The nuance with registering a foreign birth is if either or both of your parent or grandparent is still alive, you need their permission.

It's not written into law - there's nothing saying "You must obtain their consent" - It's a case of "over my dead body" - quite literally- if either of them don't want to help with your registration, you have to wait until they are dead because death certificates are public documents, unlike passports which are the property of the issuing government. You can't just seize your Dad's or your Gran's passport off them.

My Gran died in 1995 and I am sure she would have had no objection to me having an Irish passport - and my Dad certainly didn't mind - it just took rather a long time to get round to it because I had to send notarised copies of my UK passport, Dad's UK passport along with originals of my birth certificate, Dad's birth certificate, Gran's birth certificate, Dad's marriage certificate, Gran's marriage certificate and Gran's death certificate.

I've got all the documents in case any siblings want to register their foreign births.

We met at my Dad's solicitor's office in Lancaster in July 2019 - he's a friend of the family. When I mentioned that I'd been aware of my eligibility since Italia '90, my Dad's lawyer recalled that unlike me, one of the players - Tony Cascarino - didn't actually have an Irish granny but rather an Italian one. Ireland/ Italy - close enough!

That match I watched back then was in June 1990 - roughly 29 years and two weeks before the meeting in Lancaster. The age gap between me and my Dad is 29 years and two weeks - I thought that was an amazing coincidence.

My Dad was utterly bemused to learn that he has been an Irish citizen all his life without realising it - he can apply directly for a passport without the hoops I went through.

My sole visit to Ireland was back in 2007 for work - on my British passport of course.

I've seen first hand what a difference it makes taking the train to Paris with an Irish passport.

Me. My parents are Irish and I have gone back more times that I can remember. I feel at home there.