Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like many Senators in the wake of the Brexit referendum, I have been inundated with inquiries from Irish people abroad and from many people living in Northern Ireland about the application process for Irish passports and trying to guarantee their EU rights. Much of this issue has been addressed. I commend the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, on accelerating the process and allocating more staff to meet demand, but I have also received a number of inquiries from British people who have been living in Ireland for many years and who believe that their status is threatened by the UK's possible withdrawal from the EU in the next two and a half years. Many of them have been living in Ireland for some time, are married to Irish citizens and are entitled to apply for Irish citizenship, but they are finding the costs prohibitive. We have one of the costliest citizenship application processes in the EU. Will the Leader invite the Tánaiste to the House to discuss whether she will review the process in view of the fact that the more than 300,000 British citizens living in Ireland have found themselves in a different situation?