It was fun while it lasted… kind of.
In four days, the Certificate of Irish Heritage will no longer be for sale by the Irish Government due to lack of interest.
Since 2011 just 3,000 people have availed of the certificate that officially recognises your Irish heritage, despite there being over 70 million Irish diaspora scattered around the world.
The certificate has been handed to a number of high profile visitors to Ireland including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Tom Cruise, Caroline Kennedy and a extra special JOE certificate of Irishness was awarded to Paul Rudd by our editor Paddy McKenna.
The aim of the certificate was to give the Irish diaspora and those of Irish descent – particularly those ineligible to apply for Irish citizenship– a formal way of celebrating their Irish heritage.
The certificates cost €40 for an unframed certificate and €120 for a framed certificate. The initiative started off well, selling 1,000 certificates in the first year, but sadly just 179 were sold in 2015.
Basically everyone wants to be Irish, but only if it’s free, we should be insulted, but we kind of understand…
Next Monday, August 24, will be the final day where you can purchase a Certificate of Irish Heritage and the final publishing day is September 3.
So if you were thinking of getting one for your American cousin this Christmas you better get online and snap one up before its too late.
If you feel like getting one the link is www.heritagecertificate.com
Hat-tip to Irish Central and clip via RTÉ
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