Is the tide turning?

According to this segment (from ca. 8’30”) on the Brian Lehrer show this morning, Ireland recently decided to relax it’s requirements for citizenship: you can apply if you great-grand-parents were Irish.

Reasons mentioned by the guest or callers why Irish-Americans apply: (i) sentimentality, (ii) work opportunities, (iii) fear of being a US passport holder after 9/11, (iv) fear of US conscription, (v) George W. Bush.