Should people who voted for Brexit be allowed to apply for an Irish Passport?

[Berlinlover]

I have two cousins who were born and raised in England who have an Irish father and an English mother. Both my cousins voted for Brexit and are now applying for Irish passports. I’m Irish and living in Ireland and this makes me absolutely furious. They are both women in their 50s who never wanted an Irish passport until now. They have no interest whatsoever in Irish history and anything related to Ireland. They’re not even embarrassed that they voted for Brexit and see an Irish passport as a way of skipping queues at the airport. It seems so unfair on those who voted to remain but don’t have an Irish parent/grandparent so can’t apply for an Irish passport.

You're bang on about lack of self awareness.

However the NHS is still reliant on foreign born workers. It's just that those workers now come from further afield than the EU. The vocal Brexiteers can often be found complaining that there are too many immigrants from Africa and Asia in the UK now. The penny still hasn't dropped that they voted for this.🤦‍♀️

I haven't missed the point. It doesn't matter. You don't have the right to punish people for having voted the wrong way. Yes it's annoying when people take advantage of opportunities that their votes may have denied others. No that doesn't mean you can punish people for having voted for the thing they're denying others when they're entitled to it themselves.

You just need to get over the fact that half your fellow citizens voted differently from you. It was a wrong decision but that's democracy for you, sometimes the majority vote the wrong way. We are here and we have to live with it. The worst way to do that is by continually fantasizing about ways to punish your fellow citizens to having voted differently from you and dehumanising them a stupid incompetent assholes instead of tackling the issues which caused them to vote differently from you in the first place.

Move on for God's sake.

It should never have been a public vote. A large portion of people voting genuinely didn’t understand the implications of what they were voting for especially given all the propaganda from Nigel Farage and his party.

This is Ireland's fault for handing out passports too easily.

It’s not easy apparently. My sister has been waiting months to get citizenship before she can get the passport.

It would change my opinion of them but I wouldn't be getting my knickers in a twist over it - does it affect you? No.

I lived in Ireland for all of my childhood and young adulthood but wasn’t born there. School, college, first jobs. I can’t have an Irish passport although I see it as my home. I have a friend who now has an Irish passport although she’s never set foot in Ireland and never intends to. It’s infuriating.

Not necessarily. If MIL got the passport when she was in her eg 60s on the basis of her grandparent being born in Ireland, then any children born before she got her citizenship can't become Irish citizens by descent because she wasn't a citizen when they were born. I got my Irish citizenship while pregnant for this reason! (Many thanks to the helpful Irish civil servants at the Register of Foreign Births who fast tracked it.) I voted Remain.

OP, I can see why you're annoyed. It would be interesting if Ireland does change the rules on this - which I always assumed were there because of historic depopulation and large amounts of migration, which is maybe not the case so much these days.

Multi billionaire James Radcliffe was a Brexiteer then skipped off to Monaco. No different for these people.

Yes. In a democracy you can’t punish people for disagreeing with you.

People with Irish ancestry are entitled to apply for Irish citizenship. There is strict eligibility criteria. We don't hand out passports to all and sundry.
https://www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/citizenship/

Should people who smoke be treated for lung cancer? After all they have caused it, why should the rest of us pay out more for their stupid decision?
Do you think that’s the same thing op?
People make stupid decisions every day, we just have to accept it.

Obviously you can't have one law for people with one political belief and a different law for people with the opposite belief. However, you can call out the sheer hypocricy of the many Brexiteers (includingg that racist arsehole Tommy Robinson) who apply for an Irish passport solely to make travelling to the EU easier for themselves having fucked up free movement for the rest of us.

Agree that it takes the absolute piss. My 18 year old who was 8 at the time of the referendum would not have voted to leave and would love the option of an Irish passport. So would I actually.

No, they really shouldn't. However they can't be stopped. We actually have a Brexiteer MP here who did that. It's a shame on them and all you can do is fume/pour scorn/curse them.

🙌💯

I’m sure the majority of smokers who are diagnosed with lung cancer regret ever lighting up a cigarette, my cousins seem to have no regret voting Brexit.

How would the Irish authorities know who they voted for?

My cousin, who is Nigel Farage’s number one cheerleader, and Brexiteer, recently applied for a Hungarian passport. She was told she wasn’t eligible as her parents weren’t married before she was born. Oh how I laughed…

Yes this is the case for us. My MIL's parents were born in Ireland so she can apply. Technically my DH can too, but as neither MIL nor DH had an Irish passport when my DC were born (pre-brexit), the DC won't be able to enjoy the benefits to which MIL is availing herself.

I know that what she's doing is legal and I don't expect her to be punished, but it doesn't stop me feeling deeply angry at her hypocrisy and the injustice of the situation.

I understand the annoyance about voting for Brexit and obtaining an Irish passport, but I really take issue with people saying that Irish descendants shouldn't get one. Irish people have for hundreds of years had to emigrate due to its past poor economic structure. This is why Ireland is generous with the diaspora.
Both my Irish parents moved to England due to this in the 50s. I obtained my passport as (part) to try and keep a connection but also for my children. I had one of my children whilst living in Dublin. I want them to know some of their heritage and the passport is part of it.

I’m so thankful that my DH got his before we had DCs. My understanding is that it can continue on through the family as my DCs (teens) have theirs, their DCs will be entitled etc. My MIL is Irish and a Brexiteer. Oh what joy from pulling up the drawbridge, eh? 😡

Their views are not simply something to disagree with, they are directly related to the issue.
Their views mean that they have taken rights away from others that they have kept themselves.
If they believe in Brexit and believe the UK is better off out of the UK, then they should put their money where their mouth is and stick to their British passport. Why are they not doing that?

Just move on. All this Angst over a vote which took place 5 years ago is becoming so tedious. Brexit won. Remain didn’t. Get over it, and just try and focus on something you can change. Channel your energy into lobbying the government over this shitshow they’re creating. Brexit is a done deal and no amount of name calling or anger is going to change it. People who are going on about Brexit are the same ones who will be moaning when Reform get in at the next GE. You need to learn that when governments don’t listen to voters, then action will be taken to make them listen.

Yes they should.