Count Yerself Lucky: Apparently A Shitload Of People Want To Be Irish
It should hardly be a surprise but apparently, a shitload of people want to be Irish. That's right lads, the demand for Irish passports last year reached an all-time high of 733,060.
This brings the total of Irish passports across the world to... wait for it... a rumoured 50 million.
Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said people went crazy after the Brexit. Probably because they believed that UK citizens would never be allowed back in with their British passports. Sigh.
So where are these so-called Irish people? The biggest demand for the coveted Irish passport came from the Irish consulate in New York, with a whopping 7,205 Yankees looking to rejoin the motherland.
The Aussies also got in on some Emerald action with 490 applications for children. Funnily enough our neighbours in the north wanted to grab a passport too - 67,972 applications came from Northern Ireland. Times really have changed.
Another reason why people get some Irish papers are because it's so damn easy: anyone born in Ireland (including Northern Ireland) or whose parents are Irish automatically qualifies for citizenship. And you may also apply if your grandparent was born here. How about that.
So be thankful, you Irish natives, as people badly want to be you. -flips hair-