Players eligible for Ireland

When BP-F was first called up by NI, he had never represented England so could have switched back at any time before accepting his first competitive cap for us. You know, like Rice or Grealish. But considering he had never played under-age for England, was then Leeds Utd's 3rd choice gk and had just been sent back to them after failing a trial at York City(!), I seriously doubt he was ever on Southgate's speed dial!

Meanwhile Lee Camp was 26 and hadn't represented England at any level for over 5 years when HE approached NI:

As for Maik Taylor, as a UK citizen born outside the UK, under FIFA's rules he was entitled to play for any of the four home nations.  He was 24 and playing non-league before he even got his chance to go f-t with Barnet FC. He eventually made his debut for the NI U-21 team in April 1998 at the age of 27, as an over-age player in a friendly vs Malta, a reflection of the fact that none of the other 3 home nations was in the slightest bit interested in capping him.

And in any case, the 4 Associations came to a voluntary agreement soon after that in future any such player would have to have a clear connection with whoever wished to cap him. Further, this agreement was formally lodged with FIFA and is written into their statutes.

So none of those is remotely like the case of the FAI making promises to a teenager to join them, thereby using up his only switch, made all the worse when force of numbers means he may not be good enough for ROI long term, but might have made a career with NI (see eg Michael McGovern).

Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote: But for some reason, you think Northern Ireland should be allowed to call up players with questionable links to the country

Who are these players with "questionable links"? I'm not denyng the right of the FAI to select these players, merely the ethics of doing so. Meanwhile everyone who has ever played for us has qualified under the rules then pertaining