Dan Mulhall, the Irish ambassador to the UK, told the BBC that demand for Irish passports had been static for the last four to five years before Brexit happened.
“Last year, it rose by 40%,” the ambassador said.
“So far this year, we’ve seen another significant increase, and it looks like as if we’re going to be close enough to doubling the number of passports this year compared with 2015, which was the last pre-Brexit year,” he said.
Mulhall described the figure as “an extraordinary number”, and said he thought it was a sign that people were seeking “to safeguard their position for the future”.
Access rights
Securing a deal on reciprocal rights for millions of British expats living in the EU has been one of the top aims of the Brexit negotiations currently underway with the EU, however little progress has so far been made.
About 900,000 British citizens are living in other European Union countries, according to research by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, with Spain home to the largest number at 308,805.
A third of them – 101,045 – are aged 65 or over.
The next most popular countries for British citizens living abroad are France, with 157,062; Ireland, 112,090 and Germany, 96,200.
According to Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs in total over 500,000 passports were issued in the first six months of 2017, up 10% on the same period of 2016.
Britain voted to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016.
