Trying to decide what passports to get for our kids who currently have GB passports? (Irish Mother & NI Father)

[BuzzLife]

My husband is from Northern Ireland and I'm from the Republic of Ireland.
We live in the UK so our three kids have British passports which are expiring soon.
We're trying to decide if we should get them Irish Passports or renew the British passports.
We drive to France once a year together and once a year I fly to Europe with the three kids on my own. I guess on that trip it'll be easier if all 4 of us have the same (Irish) passport?
In the meantime when the five of us go to France will it be difficult if my husband has a Northern Irish passport?
I guess longer term it'll be best if he gets an Irish passport as well.
Any thoughts/suggestions?

both

Just get both.
Unless your Irish citizenship can't be passed on to your children obviously.

Irish are cheaper, Standard 5-year passport for children between 3 and 18 years: €26.50.

UK Child (under 16) standard 34-page passport £49 online, paper copy £58.50

Would your husband be eligible for an Irish passport? I used to work in the nationality office but can't remember the criteria under which Northern Irish Brits were eligible for Republic of Ireland pots.

Both

I thought you could get both? Sounds like a no brainer to me!

Clearly both.

Similar situation here and I and my children have both. Added bonus is that the Irish passports are considerably cheaper than the UK ones.

No such thing as a Northern Irish passport. And your DH should be entitled to Irish passport if he was born on Island of Ireland.

DC and I all have both Irish and British. DH only has British but now that we live in NI (I am from here, DH is English and until recently we have lived on mainland UK) we are planning that he will get Irish once he is eligible.

If I HAD to drop one it would be my British one.

I'm not sure what the benefit of getting both passports for the kids as I can't get a British passport and I will always be travelling with them in Europe so we'll have to go through the EU queue?

Given the current political climate I would get one for them just in case if you can.

Surely the kids and your husband all have both citizenships regardless of what passport they hold? So not a big deal either way. Probably worth getting the Irish passports at some point so you all have EU passports post Brexit, but since the citizenship is already in place it's not an urgent thing.

We're similar - I'm ROI, DH and DD NI and we live in NI. ATM we all have Irish passports, if there's an advantage to DH and DD getting British passports down the line, we'll do it then.

Get both. You won't always be travelling with them when their grown ups.

*they're FFS!

"Get both. You won't always be travelling with them when their grown ups."
That's fine when they are adults ... but that's 5 years away.

No such thing as a Northern Irish passport.

Seconded.

An Irish Passport is an EU Passport. It is better in every way.

It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland.

Irish Constitution, Article 2

I’d get DH and all the DCs Irish passports. You’d probably need to renew the British ones in the meantime depending on the wait time for new Irish passport applications.

Tbh I'd just get whatever is cheapest.

Having or not having a passport makes no difference to citizenship. One of my British citizen children does not have a British passport because at least until the end of the transition period it's an expensive and unnecessary item of paperwork. He has a (much cheaper) EU passport & ID card.

Having or not having a passport makes no difference to citizenship.

I would like to say you are right until the Windrush scandal proved that lacking documentation did make a difference as to whether your right to citizenship was believed or not. I would say get both, especially if the Irish ones are cheaper.

Chatongris- I'm the same, and used to work in nationality law!
DD travels on an Italian Id card as I never renewed her UK ppt when it ran out.
I am going to do her one next year though as we may travel outside Europe soon.

Peregrina- unfortunately you have to provide the documentation to prove you're British to get the ppt, it's not the ppt that proves the nationality. That was why s lot of the Windrush victims were stymied as they'd never had never had passports other than when they came into the UK on their (then) British Subject ppts.

@CrissmussMockers
The passport office says differently if you were born after 2005:
www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-in-ireland/
Not a problem here, but being born on the island of Ireland doesn’t guarantee Irish citizenship.I had to jump through a few hoops to get Irish citizenship for my children born in NI after 2005.
I thought it was guaranteed but the GFA, but it was not.

I’d get both passports for everyone. Cover all the bases.

Im another who says to get them both. I need to get my DCs Irish passports although haven't gotten round to it yet. Appreciate that you won't have a British one but I say to keep their options open regardless of the passport you're entitled to.

If you can get them both then why not. Belt and braces.

Get the cheapest one for them. Because you can't have an Irish passport you are stuck with the British one, so no benefit from them having Irish ones at this time, unless they are cheaper. You will all be stuck in the non eu line at the borders anyway unless they are prepared to leave you.