American was “100% Irish” – gets Irish passport

Published 25 July 2024 at 15.45

Foreign. American John Portmann used modern DNA-based racial biology to prove he was Irish – and now he is being granted an Irish passport.

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A graduate by trade, Portmann has been granted Irish citizenship after a DNA test showed he is 100 percent Irish.

He was adopted as a child and was unaware of his parentage, but was able to prove his biological father, Thomas Fitzgerald, came from Dublin and that his biological mother, Térese Delahanty's family, originally came from Co Kilkenny in south-east Ireland.

The 61-year-old American now believes he is the first person to have Irish citizenship based solely on a DNA test.

He only became aware of his Irish origins when he took a DNA test on ancestry.com in 2019. Using the DNA test, he was able to trace his biological parents.

After presenting proof of her Irish ancestry to the authorities in Ireland, Portmann was granted an Irish passport.