Under the Good Friday Agreement – the 1998 peace accord that followed the conflict colloquially known as The Troubles – those born in Northern Ireland can hold both British and Irish passports.
A Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in 2010 means players born anywhere on the island of Ireland are able to represent the Republic of Ireland regardless of whether they fulfil any other measure of eligibility, namely being born in the territory, having a biological mother, father, grandmother or grandfather born in the territory, or having lived there for an uninterrupted period of five years.
Players born in the Republic of Ireland, however, cannot represent Northern Ireland unless they are otherwise eligible.
“We exploit eligibility, the same as every other country does, down to the grandparent rule, but this is a rule which is obviously unique between ourselves and the FAI [Football Association of Ireland],” said O’Neill.
“I think everyone recognises it’s not particularly fair, but as I say, our focus is to make sure our pathway for our young players is as good as possible and that’s a pathway for boys from any part of the community.”
In May, FAI director of football John Martin said the organisation should at “the bare minimum” be sounding out eligible players.
“We know there are kids out there who want to play for Ireland who haven’t been approached in the past,” said Martin.
“That’s not right. It’s making sure we have a presence and we understand all the players available to us, and that they are being monitored and tracked.”
When asked whether the narrative around young players in or around his squad is tiresome to him, O’Neill said: “It would have been in the past, it’s not tiresome now.
“We have people who comment on this and talk about nationality and talk about identity and talk about all these different things, which are part of being born in Northern Ireland and growing up in Northern Ireland.
“But I think what we’re missing now is that we’re putting young players in a situation where they have to make a decision which is irreversible.”