Irish Citizenship

A couple years ago, my family was on an ancestry blitz, gathering all sorts of facts about our great-great-great grandparents and such. My Aunt figured out that she could obtain Irish citizenship through her grandparents (my great-grandparents). Something to do with the Potato Famine and the Irish leaving for more prosperous lands... All she needed was to obtain the proper documents (birth certificates and such), fill out some forms, pay a fee, and presto - she'd have dual citizenship.

I was intrigued when I first heard this - Ireland has always piqued my curiosity. I'm somewhat of an Anglo-Saxon mutt, being the descendant of the Irish, Scottish and English. However, it wasn't until after I was married that I decided to actually look into obtaining my Irish citizenship. Changing my very Irish last name had a bit of an impact on me, I suppose. I love my new name, and the solidarity I feel it gives me with my Husband, but at the same time... you lose a piece of your history.

Apparently my Aunt has done the whole citizenship process, and my Mum has all the paperwork, but she balked at having to pay a fee to register as a Foreign Birth. Her Mum (my Gramma) must still be alive when she registers. So it's all very complicated. According to the Irish Foreign Affairs website, however, there is no way I can obtain citizenship if my Great-Grandparent was born in Ireland but none of the following generations obtained citizenship before I was born. Booo!

Getting a little further on my afghan for Gramma - looking good :) Oh, and I took a pregnancy test - negative (mixed emotions on that one, but I'm not surprised). I've started taking my Ultra-Mega Gold vitamins from GNC. Jo says Folic Acid (required for Spina Bifida prevention) has to store up in your body for at least 2 months in order to be effective, and it only really matters for the first trimester. In other words, I really should be taking it regularly, on the off-chance that my husband and I conceive ;)