Irish citizenship in the time of COVID

[MrsGideon]

Hi all

I'm posting this in Chat for traffic and also because I'm not quite sure where else to post it...

I have recently found out that I am eligible to apply for Irish citizenship through descent as both of my parents are Irish citizens with Irish passports who were registered on the Foreign Births Register before I was born. I know I meet all the eligibility criteria from that POV, but I've hit a brick wall with a couple of other things:

1. I know there was a High Court ruling in 2019 that required a period of a year's residency for citizenship applicants, but no amount of Googling can tell me if that is applicable to applicants by descent as well as by naturalisation. I am resident in the UK with no plans to move.

1. My husband and I are planning on starting a family soon (as in, we've already started TTC!) and I know I have to be entered onto the Foreign Births Register before any future children are born in order to ensure they are also eligible for citizenship, but I understand applications are currently paused during 'Level 5 of the National Framework for Living with COVID-19'. There is no information on what to do if your application is time-sensitive due to pregnancy.

I know it's a long shot but I don't suppose anyone out there happens to be an expert in Irish citizenship law who could help me navigate this?!

No idea, could you approach the Irish Embassy for advice? Either in your area or online?

My brother submitted his paperwork well over a year ago, and hasn’t heard back yet.

My husband got his through his grandparents.
From what I remember (not terribly interested) he needed birth, marriage and death certificates for both, a character reference from his parish priest and something else.
It cost a few hundred pounds and took about a year. This was around 2 years ago