Ronan O'Neill, who lives in the département of Yvelines just outside Paris, has dual British and Irish nationality by virtue of being born in Belfast.

But last month he learned that he had been struck off the electoral roll in France and would not be able to vote in the forthcoming municipal elections, because he was listed on the electoral roll as British.

The rules in France state that EU citizens who are full time residents in France can vote in local and European locals, although not in presidential elections.

Until recently this included British people, but on Brexit Day all British citizens lost their status as EU citizens and are therefore no longer allowed to vote in elections or stand for office in France.

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The exception to this is anyone who has dual nationality with another EU country, such as Ireland. 

As EU citizens they are allowed to remain in France without the need for further residence permits and they also retain the right to vote.

The French statistics body INSEE, which organises the electoral rolls, confirmed to French media that after Brexit it had been ordered by the Interior Ministry to remove all British citizens from electoral rolls.

However it added in a statement that: “It should be noted that only one nationality can be entered in the répertoire électoral unique or REU (electoral roll)” raising the possibility that other British dual nationals could also have been erroneously removed.

When Mr O'Neill learned of his removal, he took his case to a tribunal, which ruled that he should not have been removed and reinstated him to the roll.

Local media recorded the president of the Rambouillet tribunal telling Mr O'Neill: “The préfecture confirms that this disbarment does not take into account your dual nationality. You should not have been disbarred.”

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INSEE released a statement after the tribunal reading: “Brexit has resulted in the withdrawal of the right to vote from British citizens of EU member states.