RYA Developing Irish Talent?

From a simple perspective if you have dual passport capability then your best bet of a medal is with team GB as they have the biggest budget and the best pool of sailors to train with in the build up. If however you ended up in the Ainslie Scott situation where Scott would have likely got a medal in 2012 but was held out the team by Ainslies track record then it would be a no brainer to sail for ROI. There does not appear to be many people in the ROI and British sailing team that hold dual nationalities and therefore there is not a large number of cases of this theoretical situation being fulfilled. When you look at most of the Olympic classes our 2nd and sometimes more sailors would easily have qualified another country such is the strength in depth. 

Originally posted by 423zero Back to sailing, this is official viewpoint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_GB https://www.rya.org.uk/rya-regions/rya-ni/news-events/pages/articlewrapper.aspx?pageUrl=/newsevents/news/Pages/Three-NI-athletes-get-ready-to-battle-it-out-for-their-place-in-Tokyo-2020.aspx

On the basis that no one knows what visa requirements/working restrictions will apply to UK passport holders beyond 31/12/2020, anyone who is planning on spending a lot of time racing/training in Europe (which, if they are full time could count as working) would be very wise to take any opportunity to get a second passport from an EU member state if they have a family link that allows them to do so.

Originally posted by 423zero So many rude people on here now, I know 'why' 5th columnists want to get Irish passports.

So many rude people on here now, I know 'why' people who are proud of their European heritage want to get Irish passports.

Edited by 423zero - 19 Apr 20 at 3:04am