Sir, – Fintan O'Toole notes that more than 300,000 Irish passports have been issued in Britain since the vote for Brexit in the 2016 referendum ("Why we should welcome the new tribe of Anglo-Irish people", Opinion & Analysis, April 6th).
What is remarkable is that the number is so low, given the advantages of EU citizenship.
There are 6.7 million people in Britain who don’t have an Irish passport who are entitled to one through a parent or grandparent.
That’s only 10 per cent of the UK population, but it’s a lot more than the current population of the Republic of Ireland, which is 4.9 million.
If another five million of the Irish diaspora in Britain acknowledged their heritage that really would be “a new Anglo-Irish reality”. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair
Co Dhún na nGall.