Visa fear driving post-Brexit demand for Irish passports

Visa fear driving post-Brexit demand for Irish passports

Continued Brexit uncertainty, which has led to an upsurge in applications from UK lawyers seeking accreditation with the Irish Law Society, is continuing to generate an unprecedented demand for Irish passports from UK citizens.

The spectre of visas being required by non-EU nationals has been raised with new EU proposals similar to those that exist for visitors to the United States from visa-waiver countries.

At the very least British nationals would have to register and pay a fee online – which can currently cost as much as €60.

The latest figures reveal that passport applications processed by the Irish Embassy in London last month soared by more than 100pc to 6,710.

Applications from Northern Ireland jumped by almost 80 per cent with 4,993 applications received – a jump of 2,211 on August of 2015.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny, (pictured) told the Pat Kenny Show: “The Irish Ambassador in Britain has confirmed to me a doubling of the numbers over the past couple of months. That kind of comment and that kind of paper being prepared will mean a further spike in applications for Irish passports.”

Mr Kenny added that Brexit was a “mess of complete confusion for hundreds of thousands of people”.

He went on: “They (the British Government) don’t have a definite horizon as to where they want to be. The best place that Britain could be is to have access to the single market, as is now. But if you want to have access to the single market, you must accept freedom of movement.”

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