At the moment there are in fact one or two of our guys playing without British passports and they take a risk. We cannot insist on them changing that stance, but we do advise them and tell them that from the point of view of identity, they have to weigh up the risks and work out if they're prepared to take that chance. We just say the passport identified and accepted for match administration purposes is a British passport.

Fifa aren't likely to change that ruling because they apply the same principle to every country. They have analysed the Good Friday Agreement and they've come back and said that there are many countries that have multiplepassport issues and they have to be consistent with every other ruling they make. And the rule is that every other country within Fifa works on the basis of one identity document. And I have a certain sympathy for Fifa over that because they have to deal with over 200 countries and they have to try and be consistent.

It's not an easy one for them.

But the Irish government are now involved and all I will say is that I would rather I had dealt with this matter quietly and tried to negotiate with Fifa because the more people that get involved and the more people speak out, the likelihood is that it will get even more contentious.

That is not what is needed and certain people need to consider that.

I have spoken to quite a few people in the Irish government but Dermot Ahern hasn't been one of those. He hasn't said a thing to me about any of this. All I would say to him is that my door is open, my phone is on and I would be happy to talk to anyone as long as they can be helpful. We can try and work it out. But then there are other people coming out and saying things.

It's fairly disingenuous if Steve Staunton is saying he would take players off us because of an issue like this and because players might not want to play for us because they need a British passport. I would not be happy if that is what he said because that's not helping either.

But I'm continuing quietly to talk to anyone who will be helpful and anyone who has a view on whether this is constitutionally sound. What we have is a situation that cannot be based on emotion, and it can't be based on people saying, "We are Northern Ireland, look at what's happened, we need to be treated specially, " because there are other countries who have all these problems and have multiple passports. We have to bare that in mind. And we also have to bare in mind that governments around the world have respected the roles of international sports federations to govern their sports. This is no different nor should it ever be. This is not a government matter, it is a football matter.

And it has to be made clear this is not the IFA taking one 'side' or the other. We are breaking down barriers here and it is fundamentally incorrect to say we represent one side of the community here in Northern Ireland and are ignorant of the other. If you looked at the support base and player base, you will see a fairly even spread from both 'sides'. I am trying to work forward in that respect and just look at the work we've done surrounding the whole business of sectarianism in football through Michael Boyd's programme. There are people going to Windsor Park now who haven't for years and they can see the changes we are making, it is a more pleasant place for everyone.

We will continue to step that up and we hope it will help this situation even more.

But obviously we will continue to look internally on that work and look at how this passport situation and Fifa's stance will affect that work. It would be naive of me or anyone else to think it is a helpful situation. It's not, but as I said, I have to base things on the facts and we have to work on the facts and not on emotion.