The Tánaiste has said an Irish citizenship campaigner should not have to go to court to assert her right. Emma De Souza has lodged a challenge in the Court of Appeal in Belfast to a ruling that those born in Northern Ireland are automatically British citizens. “People in Northern Ireland have a right to identify and be accepted as Irish or British or both as they may so choose and to hold both British and Irish citizenship, as guaranteed by the agreement. “No-one should have to go to court to be able to assert that right effectively.”Government lawyers argued that people born in Northern Ireland are British citizens according to the 1981 British Nationality Act, even if they identify as Irish. The Good Friday Agreement allows people to identify as British, Irish or both, but the Home Office said the agreement did not supersede the 1981 British Nationality Act.

Source: Irish Examiner December 17, 2019 17:37 UTC