UK: Northern Irish can still become EU citizens post Brexit

The UK’s position paper on Northern Ireland also rejects any border infrastructure on the frontier with Ireland.

LONDON — People with a connection to Northern Ireland who are currently entitled to become an Irish – and therefore an EU – citizen should still be able to do so after Brexit, according to the U.K. government’s latest position paper on the talks.

The document, published Wednesday, sets the protection of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which permits people in Northern Ireland to choose either or both British and Irish citizenship – based on ancestry and other criteria – as one of four top priorities.

The stance is in line with the European Commission’s demand that existing EU rights for people living in Northern Ireland be protected after Brexit.

The position paper states: “As long as Ireland remains a member of the EU, Irish citizenship also confers EU citizenship, with all the rights that go with this. This is as true for the people of Northern Ireland who are Irish citizens — or who hold both British and Irish citizenship — as it is for Irish citizens in Ireland.”

Other priorities include protecting the Common Travel Area for people moving between the U.K. and Ireland; avoiding any infrastructure whatsoever on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and maintaining close “north-south” and “east-west” cooperation between the U.K. and Ireland. That includes measures to maintain the single electricity market that exists on the island of Ireland.

The paper also proposes regulatory equivalence between the U.K. and the EU on agrifood products, as one option for avoiding border checks. Such a measure could restrict the U.K.’s room for maneuver in negotiating free-trade deals with non-EU countries after Brexit.

CORRECTION: This article was amended on 17 August 2017. An earlier version incorrectly stated who is currently entitled to Irish citizenship.

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