A leading member of the SDLP, Assembly member Claire Hanna, has predicted there will be a surge in Irish passport applications from people living in Northern Ireland following the Brexit vote.
She said that yesterday, during her constituency clinic in Belfast, she signed three times more passport applications than normal for constituents.
A clause in The Good Friday Agreement allows people born in Northern Ireland to identify themselves as British or Irish or both.
The Post Office in Northern Ireland also said it has had an "unusually high number of people in Northern Ireland - seeking Irish passport applications".
Ms Hanna said she expects many unionists as well as nationalists to exercise their entitlement to an Irish passport, and the benefits that brings within the EU, following the UK's referendum result.
She said: "even though a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, they are affected by the overall UK result in favour of exit and I expect this is going to create a new pragmatic mindset, at many levels in Northern Ireland."
"With the greatest of respect, I think the likes of Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage will not spend a second more than they absolutely have to, thinking about the complexity of our situation here with the border and I suspect that to them we are all Paddies, North and South," she said.
