 How to Get an Irish Passport:
An Irish passport is one of the most sought-after travel documents in the world. I have both Irish and English citizenship and have always used the
Irish passport in preference. It's kitschy but true;
being Irish is seen as being more, well, likeable or something. The
easiest way to get an Irish passport of course is to be born in Ireland. But, if you drew the short straw on that one, you're going to need an Irish parent or an Irish grandparent. If you have an Irish great-grandparent you need to satisfy the following
requirements; There are two circumstances under which
a great-grandchild is eligible to apply for Irish citizenship by descent: - If the parent (the grandchild of the Irish born person)
registered before the great-grandchild was born; or
- If the parent (the grandchild
of the Irish born person) registered before the 30th June 1986 and the great-grandchild was born after 17 July 1956.
The Irish Consulate in New York explained that the parent would need
to be registered in the "Foreign Birth Register" which is held at the Consulate, effectively a listing of those
of Irish citizens born abroad who are entitled to Irish citizenship who have their births "registered." Meanwhile, Ireland’s Prime Minister
Brian Cowen has indicated that he would favor relaxing naturalization laws and allowing Americans whose
nearest Irish relative is a great-grandparent to claim citizenship, provided they have spent some time either working or studying
in Ireland. So watch this space. A practical
use of an Irish passport is that you will be entitled to work and travel freely in any of the 27 countries in the European Union. You
won’t need a work permit for this – and once you have worked in a European Union county for a certain length of time, you will be entitled to unemployment compensation, health care and pension
rights. How else then can you get an Irish passport?
Getting a passport is really the easy part – it’s getting Irish citizenship that takes a little time. Born in Ireland To get an Irish passport, you must first become an Irish citizen. Fortunately, Americans can hold
dual citizenship, as can Irish, so there’s no conflict there. Let’s
look at the scenarios that allow you to claim Irish citizenship. Anyone
born in Ireland before January 1, 2005 is an Irish citizen. After that date, it is not automatic, and the citizenship and
residency history of both parents is taken into account. Marriage
to Irish citizen
You are also entitled to Irish citizenship
if you are married to an Irish citizen.
To
claim citizenship by marriage, you must meet the following conditions: you must be married to an Irish citizen for at least
three years; you must have had one year of "continuous residence" on the island of Ireland immediately before
the date of your application; and finally, you must have been living on the island of Ireland for at least two of the four
years before that year of continuous residence. If you were born
outside of Ireland and either your mother or father (or both) was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, then you are
entitled to Irish citizenship. Permanent residency If you have been a permanent resident in Ireland, you can try to become a citizen
through naturalization. You will need to have lived permanently in Ireland for the previous five years, be over 18 and
not have a criminal record. But let’s face it – living
in Ireland for five years is a lot of effort just to get that Irish passport. A much better way to get an Irish passport is
to have at least one Irish grandparent. And by Irish, we mean an Irish grandparent who was or is an Irish citizen. Irish grandparents
What to do next? After getting an Irish grandparent,
the next thing to do is to call an Irish consulate and ask them to send you an application form. There are Irish consulates
in most of the major U.S cities. They should also be able to advise you on getting the right documentation in order for your
application. You’ll need a copy of your grandparent’s
birth certificate from Ireland. If you don’t have a copy you can get one from the General Registry Office in Dublin.
You will also need: Your grandparent's certificate of marriage;
your parents' birth and marriage certificates; and an original death certificate for any of these relatives who have passed
away. If the grandparent is deceased, you’ll need to show a certified copy of their death certificate, and if alive,
a current official I.D. (such as a driver’s license or passport.) To
access the Irish documents, it will help you to know as much information about where and when your Irish grandparent was born,
which may involve some genealogy research. If one of your parents
is Irish, and you would like to get an Irish passport, the process is easier. You need: their marriage certificate; a current
official I.D; a copy of their death certificate if your Irish parent has passed away, a full long-form birth certificate of
your Irish parent, showing your grandparents’ names, places of birth and ages at birth. You will also need: your own long-form birth certificate; documentation to show that you have
changed your name, such as a marriage certificate, if this has happened; a notarized copy of your current passport, and at
least three other notarized copies of proofs of identity, one of which must be a photo I.D; a bank/utility statement with
your current address; and two signed passport photos.
Once
you have established your Irish citizenship – which can take up to 18 months to process – you can apply for an
Irish passport. This can take up to six weeks to process and you can do this through your nearest Irish consulate. And then, you too can sashay through the EU passport section at Dublin airport
after the overnight flight from New York!
 Irish Herbed Drop Scones:
Scones: These are perfect with soup or dinner and will whet your appetite without ending it. Irish Herbed Drop Scones: Serves: 8 3/4-cup all-purpose flour 1-teaspoon salt 1-teaspoon baking
powder 2 tablespoons milk 2 eggs 1/4
cup melted butter 1 tablespoon chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as parsley, basil, and rosemary 4 tablespoons safflower oil Method Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend in milk, eggs,
butter, and herbs. Pass this batter through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl. Refrigerate,
covered with plastic wrap, I0 minutes. Heat the safflower oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Pour
a tablespoon of batter onto the pan. Cook on both sides, about 30-40 seconds per side or golden brown.
Irish Cheese Cake
This Chocolate Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake
recipe is a sure hit on St. Patrick's Day, or on any other day for that matter.
Ingredients
6 Graham crackers
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter; melted
24
oz Cream cheese at room temperature
7 tablespoons of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
9
oz Semisweet chocolate; chopped
Chocolate curls; (optional)
Method To make the
crust, first preheat oven to 350°F. Grind the graham crackers to a fine crumb, using your food processor. Add the butter
and continue blending until this is combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch diameter spring form pan. Do
not put crumb mixture on the sides of the pan. Bake the crust about eight minutes and remove from oven. Do not turn off oven. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the flour. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until just combined. Do not overheat. Mix in the remaining ingredients
EXCEPT for the whipping cream and the chocolate. Pour this filling into the crust and bake for ten minutes. Then reduce heat
to 250°F and bake for an additional 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool cake on a rack for ten minutes. Then, loosen
cake and cool. Chill overnight. To make the glaze, heat the cream in a saucepan until it simmers.
Reduce the heat to low and added the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool the glaze to lukewarm
then pour the glaze over the cake after you have released the cake from the pan. Refrigerate for about thirty minutes. Sprinkle the top with chocolate curls if desired. This Chocolate Baileys
Irish Cream Cheesecake serves 12 lucky people.
Enjoy!
| Famine Memorial Dublin, Ireland |
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From Irishcentral.com:
1. Technically, it is an offense to be drunk in public in Ireland Technically, it is an offense to be drunk in public in Ireland. Regulations introduced last year allow the police to issue on-the-spot fines for anyone caught being drunk in a public place
in Ireland. 2. An Irishman founded the Argentinean Navy
Irishman
William Brown (known in Spanish as “Guillermo Brown”) is one of Argentina’s national heroes. He is commonly known as the “father of the Argentine navy” and was an important leader
in the Argentinean struggle for independence from Spain. Brown’s family left Foxford in Co. Mayo for Philadelphia in 1786 when he was aged 9 and his father died of yellow fever soon after they arrived in the U.S. He led an adventurous early life: he fought in the Napoleonic wars, was taken prisoner-of-war, escaped to Germany, before somehow ending up in Uruguay, where he became a sea trader. He then founded the Argentinean navy, when it was at war with Spain. Today there is a statute of Brown in his hometown of Foxford, Co. Mayo, which was unveiled in 2007, the 150th anniversary of his death. in Argentina, there are 1,200 streets, 500 statues, two towns, one city and a few football clubs named after him.
3.
Only two members of U2 were born in Ireland
David Howell Evans, more commonly known as The Edge, was born in London, to Welsh parents. Garvin and Gwenda Evans moved to Malahide in Dublin when The Edge was aged 1. Adam Clayton, U2's bassist, was born in Oxfordshire, England. His family moved to Malahide in Dublin when he was 5, and he soon became friends with The Edge. Only Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were actually born in Ireland.
4. The British Embassy in Tehran is on a street named after an Irishman
In 1981, shortly after the death of
IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands, the Iranian government changed the name of the street where the British Embassy is located from "Churchill Boulevard" (after the British Prime Minister) to "Bobby Sands Street." British Embassy Staff were then forced to route everything through a side door in the building to avoid
showing their address as The British Embassy, Bobby Sands Street, Tehran.
5. Up until around the early 1990s, Ireland had a low per capita consumption
of alcohol
When the word "Irish" comes up, "drinking" is
never far behind. And today, Ireland alcohol's consumption is very high by international standards. A 2006 survey found
that the Irish spend a higher proportion of their income on alcohol than anyone else in Europe. It also found that the Irish were the worst binge drinkers in Europe. So the recent evidence supports the old Irish drunkard stereotype. But Ireland's alcohol consumption per population
was moderate for much of the 20th century. There was a high level of alcohol abstinence in the country – something usually
more associated with Protestantism – which was promoted by the Catholic Church. As the Church's moral authority
declined, however, and as the country became wealthier, the Irish started to drink a lot more - finally earning themselves
that old heavy-drinking stereotype.
6. A Belfast hospital is a world leader in kneecap reconstruction
During the Troubles,
the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast had one of the top trauma units in Europe. At one point as many as 100 victims of "limb executions" were being
treated by the hospital every year, whose advances included external “limb scaffolding" that enables partial healing
for bone damage too severe for reconstruction.
7. Ireland
has the fourth largest stadium in Europe
Dublin's Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association, is the fourth largest stadium in Europe. The 82,300-capacity stadium was redeveloped in 2005 and is now the fourth largest:
only Camp Nou in Barcelona, Wembley in England, and Olimpiysky in the Ukraine, are bigger. Rugby and soccer were banned from the stadium up until 2007 because of a long-standing rule banning “foreign”
games. The rule was relaxed when the country’s main soccer and rugby stadium, Lansdowne Road, was closed for redevelopment.
8. In the summer of 2007, it rained in Ireland
for 40 days straight
Even by Irish standards, 2007 was a wet summer. By August
24, it had rained in Ireland for 40 days - fulfilling an old Irish proverb that says it will rain for 40 days if it rains
on St. Swithin's day (July 15). The rain usually takes a break in the summer for a couple of weeks and the rare sunshine
sends the country pure mad!
9. Playboy was banned in Ireland
until 1995
In 1995 you could get Playboy TV but you couldn't get the magazine, which was banned under the censorship laws.
10. More Guinness is sold in Nigeria than in Ireland
That's right: Ireland is the third largest market for
Guinness. Nigeria is at second, and Britain is first.
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