Republic of Ireland: British Passports

Baroness Suttie Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Suttie (LD)]

My Lords, I also welcome the Minister to his place and look forward to hearing his maiden speech in response to this very important debate this evening. I wish him well in his future career as a Minister.

I can be very brief and say that I fully support the case made by the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, this evening. It seems to me quite wrong that someone who has lived in the United Kingdom for more than 50 years, and indeed has served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, should not be entitled to the same rights that I have in being able to apply for a United Kingdom passport.

Like other noble Lords this evening, I very much agree with the conclusions of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons on the need for a bespoke solution for people in Northern Ireland like the noble Lord, Lord Hay, who find themselves in this situation. We are not talking about very many people here; we are talking about approximately 40,000 people. I feel that it is such a small number that we need to look at it correctly, properly and in proportion.

The Government’s approach to this matter is unnecessarily inflexible and bureaucratic. I have two points on which I should like to receive clarification from the Minister in his concluding remarks. First, Ireland already enjoys special status with the United Kingdom for the common travel area and the EU settlement scheme. As I understand it, the Republic of Ireland is not considered a foreign country for the purpose of UK laws. Irish citizens in the UK are treated as if they have permanent immigration permission to remain from the date when they take up ordinary residence here. If the common travel area and the EU settlement scheme already mean that Irish citizens are treated differently in this country, why could that special status not be extended for the application process for UK passports?

My second point is simply about having generosity of spirit. As other noble Lords have mentioned this evening, there is a special relationship between these islands. We have common bonds, family connections and hundreds of years of shared history. My father was born in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, so four years ago I was able to take advantage of that special relationship and apply for my Irish passport, for which I am very grateful. It seems somewhat inexplicable that we are not willing to demonstrate that generosity of spirit the other way around, for people born in Ireland who, like the noble Lord, Lord Hay, have lived in this country their entire working lives and would like a UK passport. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to both points this evening.