Surge In Irish Passport Applications From Eligible Brits Dissapointed At EU Referendum Brexit Result

Their Plan B.
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Hundreds of Brits who voted 'Remain' in the EU referendum are clambering to apply for an Irish passport after the country voted for Brexit.

Many voters who found themselves on the minority side of the debate on Friday morning are keen to retain their EU citizenship, by trying to obtain passports from the Republic of Ireland.

Ireland has been a member of the EU since 1973, the same year the UK joined.

According to Google, the number of searches using their website for "getting an Irish passport" spiked at more than 100 times the usual number of requests immediately following Thursday's historic vote.

+100% spike in UK searches for "getting an Irish passport" after #Brexit votehttps://t.co/qyssi0v91x pic.twitter.com/aUdHplLMaS

— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) June 24, 2016

Financial journalist Alec Hogg also noted that there were long queues outside the Irish Passport Office in Dublin on the morning Brits woke up to discover the country had voted to leave.

Many of them, he said, were Brits living in the country who wanted dual nationality to be able to afforded the same rights and freedoms as their European peers.

Long queues outside the Irish Passport Office in Dublin as British citizens in Ireland seek dual citizenship to Remain as members of the EU.

— Alec Hogg (@alechogg) June 24, 2016

Similarly, A Green councillor in Ards reportedly said hundreds of people had applied for Irish passports in his local post office that morning.

Rang @CllrJohnBarry. He says in his (Loyalist) part of NI, 200 people applied for an Irish passport at 1 local post office this morning. 1/?

— Adam Ramsay (@AdamRamsay) June 24, 2016

Iain Paisley, an MP in Northern Ireland, also advised constituents to rush to apply for a passport from the South if they were entitled to one.

A member of the pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party, Paisley added that he often signed-off applications for passport requests for those who wanted to become Irish citizens.

Anyone with parents born in the Republic is eligible to apply.

My advice is if you are entitled to second passport then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents https://t.co/oWoiVIFF8A

— Ian Paisley (@ianpaisleymp) June 24, 2016

Dissapointed Remainers with Irish ancestry contemplated applying. London Labour Assembly Member Top Copley said he was "gutted for those who will lose their right to live and work in Europe".

Qualify for an Irish passport on my dad's side. Hmmm...

— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) June 25, 2016

I'm eligible for an Irish passport so can retain EU citizenship but I'm gutted for those who will lose their right to live & work in Europe

— Tom Copley (@tomcopley) June 24, 2016
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