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Applications for Irish passports from people based in Britain surged 70 per cent this year in the wake of the Brexit.

Requests for Irish citizenship through grandparents have also increased "quite dramatically" since the UK voted to leave the European Union last year, according to Ireland's ambassador in London.

People born in Northern Ireland, as well as British people with an Irish parent or in certain circumstances an Irish grandparent, have an automatic right to become Irish citizens.

The Irish ambassador to the UK Dan Mulhall told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The increase this year, the first few months of this year, over last year is up 70 per cent. That's the demand for Irish passports from people based in Britain.

"Also of course people applying for Irish citizenship through a grandparent, that's gone up quite dramatically."

Last year the Irish government pleaded with Brits to stop applying for passports after the UK’s vote to leave the EU triggered a surge in demand.

Foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan urged British citizens with the right to an Irish passport to apply only if it was necessary as the service was struggling to cope.

While around 50,000 Irish passports were usually issued in Britain each year, 70,000 were issued in 2016, Mr Mulhall said on Tuesday.

The ambassador, who is due to leave his post to become the Irish ambassador to the US, also suggested a border poll on a united Ireland could be "something that will arise at some time in the future".

He said: "Brexit complicates the situation for everyone in Ireland.

"We would prefer if Britain were to remain in the European Union, that would be the most straightforward way of maintaining the good situation we have with Northern Ireland."

Talks over the border in Ireland were "in a good position" given the recognition on all sides to maintain a soft border after Brexit, Mr Hulhall added.