The Gist: News dearth, US Pres goes Full Irish, Irish passports in demand
Bank Holiday Hangover
Schools are closed this week, and the bits of the country that didn't go back to work yesterday (newspapers and the like) found that their heart wasn't really in it. Similarly, journalists scraped around the sides of walls and even reported on wills in the probate office to bring you bits of things that could be passed off as news. From a big bequest to the Irish Cancer society by a dead lady with lots of money to how to wake up in the morning now the clocks have gone back- we got it at its inconsequential best.
US President goes Full Irish
One week from the Election in the US. To follow yesterday's announcement that US troops are to be marched up to the top of a hill on the US Mexico border before being marched down again- because that's where brown foreigners are- the man in charge of the largest collection of bombs in the world was at it again. Today, he announced he intended to revoke the right to citizenship for people born in the US.
This policy posed a slight moral quandry in Ireland, where it was roundly condembed for being both racist and also illegal under the US constitution. On the other had, if successful, the President would have proved himself so extreme that he would have matched what Irish voters voted for in a 2004 referendum by a 79% majority.
Of course, he can't do this, and he has no intention of actually doing it. He just needs something to snatch critical column inches and mouthbreathing panel discussion away from his supporters actually trying to kill the people his government designated their enemies. Like I say, it's one week from the election.
You. Shall. Not. Passport.
Speaking of the exciting world of becoming an Irish citizen, there were reports today that 15,000 applications from the UK had been turned down (an increase from 1 the previous year). The Dept of Foreign Affairs disagreed with the numbers but declined to provide their own. Everyone agreed there were tens of thousands of extra applications from the UK. The chair of the Seanad's brexit committee pointed out that 10% of the UK was eligible to apply for an Irish passport- a total figure in excess of the current population of Ireland.
It is possible Dublinrents may keep going up for a while.
An aside: When the BBC reported on this story, they went to the trouble of choosing for their accompanying illustration a set of Blue Passports, not the wine coloured ones of the EU. Rather undermining the veracity of this image was the fact the Irish Passport was also blue, a state of affairs which has not pertained for approximately 100 years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46030552
