Britons seeking Irish passports up 22 percent in 2018

Documents seen at the conference as Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, host a 'Getting Ireland Brexit Ready' workshop at the Convention Centre in Dublin, Ireland. [Photo: Reuters]

DUBLIN - The number of British citizens applying for Irish passports rose by 22 percent in 2018, Ireland’s foreign office said on Monday, more than doubling the total of annual applications since Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Almost 100,000 eligible Britons sought to hang onto their EU citizenship via a passport from their nearest neighbour this year, up from 81,000 last year and 46,000 in 2015, the year before the Brexit vote led to a sharp rise in applications.