MPs and peers join growing queue for an Irish passport

The Times wrote:

The number of MPs and peers who have applied for an Irish passport after Brexit is in the “double digits”, The Times understands.

Members of the Commons and Lords have sought to get dual citizenship because they do not want their rights to work and travel across the European Union to be restricted.

The revelation that peers and MPs are applying for foreign passports has led to calls for them to stand down from Parliament. Although making such an application is potentially constitutionally uncomfortable it is not against the rules.

One source said that a “surprising” number of British politicians had applied, stretching across all parties and both Houses of Parliament.

Ireland has long had widely drawn citizenship criteria to attract migrants. People with Irish parents or grandparents can claim a passport.

The British rules say that people wishing to stand as an MP must be over 18 years of age, be a British or Commonwealth citizen or — specifically — a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, because of the countries’ close historical ties. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, had dual nationality until he recently gave up his US citizenship.
However, the revelation still prompted anger among some Tory Eurosceptic MPs. Andrew Bridgen, the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said: “If people are elected to represent the UK and now decide they want to be a foreign national then that’s a bit of a stab in the back for us. Perhaps they should also take a share of southern Irish debt. I think they should immediately stand down from the House of Commons if they have done that. They can then go and stand for the Irish senate instead.”

Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP and co-chairwoman of the Vote Leave campaign, was more relaxed. She was born in Germany and applied for British citizenship in the early 1990s to enter Parliament, at which point she lost her German passport because of the rules in place at the time.

She said: “I think the whole issue is a deeply curious one but this is more a question for the host country — Ireland — than the individuals who make the deeply personal decision to switch. More than twice the population of Ireland are entitled to a passport if they want one, so that’s a challenge for them.” The Belfast Telegraph reported that Irish passport applications from the UK more than doubled in August compared with the same month last year, as the post-Brexit interest in citizenship continued. Passport applications processed by the Irish embassy in London last month jumped by more than 104 per cent to 6,710. Applications from Northern Ireland also rocketed by 80 per cent. Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, told an Irish radio station: “The Irish ambassador in Britain has confirmed to me a doubling of the numbers [of passport applications] over the past couple of months.” He added that Brexit was a “mess of complete confusion for hundreds of thousands of people”