Interesting thread - if only for what it says about the accuracy of genealogical DNA testing. Which is logical when you think about it...
I did read recently about the number of people living in the UK taking DNA tests in the hope that they will find an Irish ancestor, and be able to apply for a passport. There were a multitude of Irish nationals crossing the sea hoping for a better life, and some will have had children on the quiet. However, even if the test says that it is likely that you have ancestors from the country, obtaining documentation to prove it is much harder.
To be honest, that sounds a tad silly to me - the eligibility criteria for an Irish passport includes having a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was born there. A genealogical DNA test wouldn't reveal that. Birth certificates and/or family trees would be more useful - I would have thought that most people know where their parents & grandparents come from and could use that information to find out about their great-grandparents if they didn't already know about them. Researching family trees can throw up some unwanted surprises. Years ago my sister found that we had a relative who had been born in the very early 1800s but had simply disappeared - she could find no trace of him after 1811. I later discovered that he had been transported to Australia as a convict for an unspecified crime when he was 20. Once there, he had committed another apparently more serious crime and was sent to the fledgling penal settlement of Moreton Bay - a place reserved for the worst of the worst. The trail ended there though - no records to show he had either been released or died there. The penal settlement later became known as Brisbane and I often wonder if I had been guided there by some ghostly hand.
A friend of mine here who has a UK passport looked at the possiility of getting an Irish one (around the time of brexit) because it would be more usefull to him living in Germany. He was born in Manchester but his mother is Irish - he was refused it because simply having an Irish relative or ancestor is not enough, you have to also have your residence there at the time of the application. As it happens he has lived in Germany for 35 years and has now become German. But the long and the short of it is that no matter what you have for Irish ancestry you have to be resident there when applying.
My brother has some kind of fetish about researching family trees BB. Probably in the hope of finding a Duke here or there (in explanation my brother fancies himself as some sort of social climber) - he discovered a couple who had been hung instead (just for sheep stealing) and, mysteriously gave up the search !
TBH if I could have an Irish passport I would! Alas it's at least 5 generations ago that my ancestors came over, late Victorian, I believe. I'm a very unhappy Brit. My Best Man did one of those genealogy DNA things and found relatives in the US, Argentina, and Venezuela!
My brother did one a few years ago and found out that he's 1% Wandering Jew. He wasn't best pleased when I mentioned that Wandering Jews are pot plants.
Back when Brexit first happened, we looked at Canadian passports. You need a parent, not just a grandparent though.
" Warnings of fines of up to £1000 for households with fireplaces" I wonder if Labour realised this before axing the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners? My guess is that they probably did - heartless twats that they are. Although I doubt many of the pensioners could afford the 'authorised fuels' anyway. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/warning-issued-households-fireplaces-could-180726885.html?guccounter=1
US and UK about to be taken to court over their support of Israel over Gaza. If successful, I hope it's the politicians at fault who pay the price - and not us taxpayers. https://skwawkbox.org/2024/09/17/so...file-war-crime-complicity-case-against-uk-us/
193 nations have signed up for this - the UN's 'Pact for the Future'. On the face of it, a worthwhile plan. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/...d body approved the pact Sunday. The document But why oh why has this been included in it? Personally, I think we should all be worried...
Some fruitloop Twatter nonsense. These lot are still pushing the 'Bill Gates created Covid'-style nonsense. Best to ignore them.
Labour MP Rosie Duffield's letter of resignation to Starmer. It seems that there actually is a Labour MP I could vote for...
