A couple of emails made an impression on me over the last few days, starting with this one received this morning from Jim O’Rourke…
“Merry Christmas to you David and everyone at The Celtic Star. The Star has been with us through this very difficult year for everyone and have been a good distraction even for just a few moments with some fantastic reports, stories and it’s a great platform for ordinary fans to air our views. Please keep up the good work and no matter how the season pans out we will be sure that you bhoys will be there for us no matter what. Hail Hail,” Jim O’Rourke
Thank you Jim, that’s greatly appreciated, and incidentally I’ve noticed that many supporters, like yourself just refer to the site as ‘The Star’ which is really cool.
The second email arrived on 22 December and it came from Brian McNally who many of you will know from Twitter (@McNallyMirror). Brian was writing re our campaigning on the Irish Passports, where we have outlined in detail how to apply and all the ‘hoops’ that you have to jump through to get this sorted. As Brexit looms it is probably even more important an issue than ever before. We are also going to be campaigning in Ireland in 2021 to try to influence the Irish Government to make a short term exception to their rule that cuts off eligibility at the grandchildren stage. This means that for young people ie 18-30 age bracket, they will be excluded from keeping their EU citizenship despite being the generation most affected by the Little Englander nonsense that is Brexit.
Over the net few days we will re-run the advice on how to apply and re-state our call for the Irish Government – who we are already in dialogue with – to permit a short extension to allow the great grandchildren of Irish immigrants to Britain to be allowed to be granted their Irish passport.
Incidentally one other factor in this is that this is NOT just a Celtic issue for the Irish Catholic population, indeed we have actually assisted many Rangers fans in achieving Irish citizenship via this blog – not something we expected at the beginning of this.
And now that there is a Trade Deal between the UK Government and the EU, there are commentators pointing out that there is a new FIRST CLASS kind of citizen living in Britain – the ones who have both British and Irish passports. Read this tread…
Put your hands up if you’re one of the new first class British citizens with an Irish passport!
— Jason Pedlow #FBPE (@JasonPedlow) December 25, 2020
Here’s Brian McNally’s email which illustrates the kind of impact that this campaign on The Celtic Star is having.
Dear Celtic Star Editor
Many thanks for your invaluable website’s excellent, insightful coverage of the Irish passport situation for those of us living in the UK, Europe and further beyond Erin’s green and welcoming land.
Now that the Brexit catastrophe is about to be fully unleashed upon us in it’s full devastating effect from New Year’s Day, I’ve been asked to write a personal guide on applying for an Irish passport for a NE Irish Network publication “Irish Community News – largely funded by the Irish Embassy in the UK.
It reaches out to everyone of Irish birth or descent living in the North East of corner of England ( more folk than you would think, actually). I’ve been a volunteer columnist writing on famous Irish players to have played or managed in the region such as Shay Given, Roy Keane, Martin O’Neill, Damien Duff etc since its inception at the start of the pandemic.
It’s based in the Tyneside Irish Centre which is also the home of the Tyneside Number One Celtic Supporters Club.
Last year inspired by both your website and the sage legal advice of your sister, Ann, I set off on my path to Irish citizenship and within six months or so my dream of an Irish passport and the right to still travel in Europe was realised.
So grateful thanks to you, The Celtic Star and Ann for the inspiration and motivation to start that worthwhile journey.
Now, as a semi-retired, national newspaper journalist, NUJ activist and, at long last, finally a proud Irish citizen, I would like to pass on the lessons of my practical experience to others seeking to go down the same route.
I was hoping you could grant me permission to quote, where necessary,from both your articles and Ann’s contributions on the Irish passport issue.
Any other help or advice you may be able to offer would be most gratefully received.
Kind regards,
Brian McNally (@McNallyMirror)
HH!
