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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are there any cons to applying for an Irish passport?

157 replies

battenburg100 · 05/01/2019 10:54

Hi
With Brexit so close now, I'm in a dilemma whether or not to apply for an Irish passport. I'm hesitant as although I can see the benefits of having one, alongside my British passport, there are bound to be negatives too - but I'm not sure what they may be, so I would be grateful for any mumsnetters feedback....

Background info - I was born in the UK and have a British passport - my mum was born in Northern Ireland. My sister who lives in France was worried about her employment status there, so applied for and received her Irish passport. She now has dual nationality which has pleased her French employers, but what could be the consequences, particularly negative ones, of me having both types of passport living here in the UK?

OP posts:
BlueJag · 05/01/2019 18:46

@Andallwaswell I'm British and Mexican I have 2 passports and so far I've never had a problem.
I can see a downside to having 2 nationalities.

Arnoldthecat · 05/01/2019 18:53

I've had an Irish passport for years. My parents are both Irish and generations more before them. I don't want a British passport. There are only two passports in these islands. One is British (all encompassing) and one is Irish and there are good reasons for that. It should be and is a privilege to hold an Irish passport.

Satsumaeater · 05/01/2019 18:58

If you weren't born and raised in Ireland, and have an English accent you shouldn't be getting the passport. I think it's ridiculous all the English suddenly wanting to benefit from their ancestry. Your parents/grandparents turned their back on Ireland

Not all English. British. Does that mean that Steph Twell or Beth Dobbin who sound as Scottish as I do shouldn't compete for Scotland? Didn't realise accent was so important.

And a lot of us voted remain so have every right to do what we can to keep our EU citizenship. Sadly I don't qualify but believe me if I did I would have applied whether you like it or not. My mum qualifies but as she is 80 this year, probably won't bother to apply.

Lots of it going on the other way round too so people can stay in the UK.

If someone wants to able to continue working and living in the EU they'll do what it takes to do that.

Inkspellme · 05/01/2019 19:23

If you weren't born and raised in Ireland, and have an English accent you shouldn't be getting the passport. I think it's ridiculous all the English suddenly wanting to benefit from their ancestry. Your parents/grandparents turned their back on Ireland

Please - I’m Irish and that’s rubbish. You can just as easily say that the UK gave those Irish who travelled there a chance to earn a living that wasn’t always available in an Ireland which had at that time very little tolerance for anything but a standard Catholic family. So no welcome for homosexuals and don’t get me started about the women who left Irish shores due to being unmarried but pregnant. They were treated far far better in the UK than they were in Ireland. “Turned their back”. Utter rubbish.

aquashiv · 05/01/2019 19:57

Cost.
I'm hoping Mrs May asks the public one more time if we really want to go through with this fecking night mare

Streamside · 05/01/2019 21:45

It's up to the individual.I live in N Ireland but wouldn't apply for an Irish passport as I don't identity as being Irish. Obviously for those who do that's fine but I'd feel like a hypocrite so I wouldn't. Not sure how you'd decide which passport to use, would you carry both and produce whichever seemed best for the situation. My daughter paid student tuition fees in Scotland and her friend from the nearest village didn't because she had an Irish passport so maybe the student fees issue may make it worthwhile.

Kittykatmacbill · 05/01/2019 22:02

The jealousy of all those who had the unconvince of having all four grandparents born on this island. If it were possible for my family I’d do in the blink of an eye.

SoapyBubbl · 05/01/2019 22:20

Question for some of the knowledgeable posters on this thread. I could gain Irish Citizenship (and therefore Passport) through my grandparents; it would cost around €360 plus involve chasing down paperwork but it would be doable. Now my question is is there any advantage to doing so given that my DH and two DC will still be British Citizens only? My DC are not entitled to citizenship (they would've been if I'd claimed before they were born but I didn't). My DH has no non-British relatives in living memory.

Without the benefit of a Brexit-crystal ball does anyone think there is any advantage to only one member of the family holding citizenship?

Chocolateismynemesis · 05/01/2019 22:36

I’m from NI, but live in Scotland. (Although would dearly love to move back home) My DC were all born in Scotland but as I am from NI, are all entitled to an Irish passport, along with me. (DH would only be entitled if we got our wish to move home and we stayed 3+ years)

Getting an Irish passport has been on my to-do list for a very long time (since I turned 18 actually), but due to cost and then living overseas for a few years meaning it was a hell of a lot more complicated, I never did it. Severely regretting that now, but still haven’t done it for myself or for any of the DC. I have another 4 years on my British passport, and the DC have between 2-3 years on theirs. I don’t want to waste money we don’t have and the reality is we don’t need 2 passports.

For those who have dual - do you pay to renew both passports each time they expire even if you don’t use one of them regularly?

Andallwaswell · 05/01/2019 22:38

@bluejag it’s only in certain careers it will cause a problem. Ones that need a certain level of security clearance.

TalbotAMan · 05/01/2019 22:57

lordvaderyourfather

If you weren't born and raised in Ireland, and have an English accent you shouldn't be getting the passport. I think it's ridiculous all the English suddenly wanting to benefit from their ancestry. Your parents/grandparents turned their back on Ireland

Have you any idea how offensive that is? My father and his brothers and sister are all dead now, but three of them had to leave Ireland to find work. My aunt went to Australia, my father came to England and my uncle joined the British Army. And they were all doctors, for heaven's sake.

My father always wanted to go back in his heart but in his head he realised that he couldn't. Even the people he knew from medical school who had stayed in Ireland were struggling. That's how bad it was.

yesyouareyouare · 05/01/2019 23:03

I don't care about children of Irish citizens getting Irish passports but grandchildren is taking the piss. We need to tighten up our passport rules.

yesyouareyouare · 05/01/2019 23:05

I don't agree that people turned their backs on Ireland but at least be honest that the only reason you're getting an Irish passport is pure self-interest.

Silkei · 05/01/2019 23:12

If your parent was born in Ireland you’re automatically an Irish citizen. Your children (grandchildren of the Irish person) would need to register as a foreign birth (costs about £300). Their children (great grandchildren of the Irish person) can also register as a foreign birth if their parent was a citizen before they were born.

You don’t need to get a passport right away. As long as you’re a citizen you can get a passport at any time.

Imo there are numerous benefits to applying if you’re eligible. Ease of travel in the EU, option to live and work abroad, and free or cheap university education in many countries. The latter is particularly valuable considering the high cost of a degree in the UK nowadays. The only real downside is the cost, which is insignificant compared to the amount your kids could save on their education.

elizabethdraper · 05/01/2019 23:14

Posted my iris h passport renewal on a Saturday, got it back the door 4 days later.

No delays at all.

Silkei · 05/01/2019 23:19

Your parents/grandparents turned their back on Ireland

Actually mine didn’t. He got an English girl knocked up while he was briefly over here. How offensive that you assume to know the circumstances of everyone’s families.

CherryPavlova · 05/01/2019 23:20

Myself and our children have had Irish passports for years. Dual nationality has been really useful when travelling because you can access both embassies. It’s also allowed one to have Arab nations visa stamps in one passport whilst using the other for countries hostile to Arab nations such as Israel.

My husband can’t get an Irish passport because we don’t have residency requirements. His grandmother was an Irish born citizen but there’s insufficient paperwork to demonstrate this now.

As for not having the right accent to be Irish - how bigotted and blinkered. My family are buried in Skibereen graveyard. My family supported the uprising long before the rebellion reached Dublin with county Cork being the most renowned freedom fighters in the country. We definitely deserve our Irish passports as one of the families that gave their young men for the good of Ireland before the First World War.

SwedishEdith · 05/01/2019 23:32

Some of my ancestors on one branch left in 1845. How very dare they want to feed their children

fifig87 · 05/01/2019 23:34

I don't agree that people turned their backs on Ireland but at least be honest that the only reason you're getting an Irish passport is pure self-interest.

This. And the extra applications were causing a major backlog here last year. Thankfully we can now renew online so might ease the process alot more this year.

To the pp poster with her mum from Kilkenny, have you checked the census or any idea of what area she came from in kk? The local church would probably have records from baptism.

Member869894 · 06/01/2019 00:46

both my parents are Irish but I was born n the UK. I never realised I was an Irish citizen :)

FlyingElbows · 06/01/2019 01:09

I'll just get Mr Elbows to phone Grandpa Elbows in Donegal to tell him how he's turned his back on the Ireland he was born in! Mr Elbows will have to phone because I only understand every 5th word Grandpa Elbows says, what with him being an actual legit Irish person from the legit Irish sticks. I can assure you there are no English accents in this house or any of the Elbows Siblings houses. All married to people with family from Donegal. Huge Catholic family so they're there every ten minutes anyway and also own houses there. There's nothing plastic about them. I freely admit the intention behind applying for the Mini Elbows is in their interest but I don't think acting in your child's interests is a bad thing.

namechange34 · 06/01/2019 07:58

@soapybubbl if you are an EU citizen your whole family would have the right to live in the EU even if they aren't. There are probably other advantages but that's the one that jumps to mind for me.

MongerTruffle · 06/01/2019 08:05

apply for another citizenship for them they might have to do national service (Poland?)
National service in Poland currently consists of a medical check to find out, hypothetically, if you would be suitable for the military, and it’s only a requirement if you live in Poland. Compulsory military service of any sort was abolished in 2009.

Shitmewithyourrhythmstick · 06/01/2019 08:48

I don't agree that people turned their backs on Ireland but at least be honest that the only reason you're getting an Irish passport is pure self-interest.

This is a bizarre post yesyouare, since nobody ever applies for any passport other than out of pure-self interest. People who don't have any need or use for them don't go to the bother of applying and paying. If you hold a current passport yourself, you didn't apply for it out of altruism and a desire to help others.

Oblomov18 · 06/01/2019 08:52

Dh needs to apply for his.

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