Like many people who grew up in England’s North West, I have Irish ancestry on both branches of my family tree. North and South of the border. Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland. Migration to England in both the 19th and the 20th Centuries.
It’s something that I’ve been aware of, but never actively considered.
And then came the Referendum in June 2016 … and conversations about emigration began. In the end, I chose the middle way and applied for citizenship of Ireland. I qualified because my maternal grandfather was born on the island of Ireland.
The process was simple but long. I handed in my application to the receptionist in the Irish Embassy on 10 August 2018.
I was granted citizenship in July of this year.
I received my passport in early October.
I’m grateful to the Irish for giving me another home and for all the opportunities that that home can offer me and my family.
This West London Life 
Always good to have a back up plan. I only imagine what the discussions about Brexit are like with the folks that it will / does affect directly.
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Most of us, regardless of how we voted, are completely fed up of the whole process!
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Congrats! Lucky you, indeed.
Now I wonder… would Irish great-grandparents be any use to me? Or only to my parents..?
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Only to your parents if they (your great-grandparents) were born on the island of Ireland.
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My 3rd great Grandfather Thomas Dunn left Ireland and came here to the U.S. in 1848 to escape the famine. He started a farm in Vermont. By doing this he made it possible for my family to exist today. Funny how history shapes all of us today.
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My maternal great great grandparents left Ireland some time in the early 1870s, presumably for the same reasons, but only got as far as England’s North West. I read recently that the present day Irish diaspora numbers some 100 million people worldwide. That would be quite a family gathering!
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Smiling with you and at your delight in these difficult times.
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I thought of you when my passport arrived!
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