As another season of English Premiership football kicks off this weekend, experts and former players have warned that agents are targeting Irish children in their early teens and "filling their heads with nonsense".

Agents are scuppering the development of young Irish players by convincing them to move abroad at a young age before they are ready to do so.

Eoin Hand, career guidance officer with the FAI, has warned that unlicensed agents are becoming an increasing problem in the underage game in Ireland. Hand, who is widely respected throughout Irish football, argues that agents should only be allowed to strike up business arrangements with players over the age of 18 who are negotiating professional contracts with clubs. Instead, agents are becoming involved with players before they have signed terms.

"Agents can do a lot of damage, " he told the Sunday Tribune. "They get involved far too early. I don't believe agents should be allowed talk to players until they have been offered their second contract. There are a lot of good people involved in underage football, but some of the agents are very opportunistic.

They get these young kids and fill their heads with nonsense. Children at that age are very vulnerable. I always tell parents that it is very important that they are realistic about what the life of a professional footballer entails."

Dr Anne Bourke, head of teaching at UCD business school, conducted a major study into the emigration of young players to Britain and she also believes that many agents have a negative impact on young players.

"They [agents] promise the sun, the moon and the stars to the player and to his parents, and often the parents do not realise the enormous pressures they are putting on their children, " she said.

According to Bourke, the haemorrhaging of young players to Britain has done nothing to develop Irish football. While the international side has managed limited success over recent years, this has not filtered down to the domestic game due to the loss of so many young players.

While there has always been a flow of Irish children to English clubs, this trend has grown over recent years. Prior to the 1990s, many Irish players who moved to England, such as Jim Beglin or Paddy Mulligan, were purchased from League of Ireland clubs. Not only did this generate revenue for domestic clubs, it also ensured that players had completed their school education before leaving Ireland.

The numbers of Irish children signing for foreign clubs rose steadily throughout the 1990s and peaked in 1999, when 36 Irish players left this country. Last year, 21 Irish players went to Britain. While clubs provide limited education programmes for youth players, both Hand and Bourke say that such programmes are not the equivalent of a school education.

"It is not an ideal situation for players to be going to Britain without having completed their Leaving Certificate, " says Hand. "We would prefer it if players stayed in Ireland longer, but the market dictates that they won't. We will never have the same money in the domestic league as they do in Britain.

Clubs can offer scholarships to players at 16 but not at 18. If a player is 18, a club can only offer a professional contract, which has to be paid by the club and not the government."

It is a situation that suits nobody but the clubs. By signing players at 16, English clubs are forcing Irish players to bypass domestic senior clubs. Therefore, players go straight from junior football to English football without ever sampling senior Eircom League football.

For the children themselves, however, the potential pitfalls are even greater. For many Irish children, the Premiership will remain a distant dream. The reality will often see them released at the age of 18 and sent back to Ireland with no Leaving Certificate and no training.

Tony Sheridan was one Irish footballer who did taste life in the Premiership.

Dubliner Sheridan made his debut with Coventry 10 days after his 18th birthday in 1992. Having first signed for the club at the age of 15, by 22 Sheridan was homesick and opted to return to Ireland. He maintains that players are better off waiting until they are 18 before leaving Ireland.

"If a player is good enough to make it in England, he should wait until he is ready to go, " he says. "Instead of leaving at 16, he should go to the Eircom League for two or three years.

You would learn more playing against men in Ireland than you would do against youth teams in England."

Sheridan is scathing of the FAI and accuses the organisation of taking no interest in the development of football in Ireland.

"The FAI haven't got a clue, " he says. "Look at the FA in England, they are involved in every aspect of football.

You only hear of the FAI when it comes to the international team. I honestly don't know what the FAI do aside from facilitate international matches."

Kevin Grogan signed for Manchester United when he was 15 years old and was one of the stars of their youth academy before a series of injuries cruelly ended his dreams of making it in England. He maintains that players are leaving Ireland at too young an age.

"You have to grow up quickly when you go to England, " he says. "You're living away from your family and you are in a cutthroat environment. It's not just about ability, it's about survival."

Grogan says that many players struggle to adapt to life back in Ireland once their stint in England has ended.

"It can be extremely difficult, " he says.

"When a player leaves at the age of 15, he is seen as a local hero in his area. When he comes back at the age of 18, it is like admitting that the dream is over. They have been encouraged all their lives and told how great they are, then suddenly they are let go and they don't know what to do."

It is a problem that exists on both sides of the Irish border. Belfast-born John Hooks signed for Southampton at the age of 16, but following a spell at Blackpool, found himself back in Ireland at 21.

"Clubs don't offer any advice or any help to players they release; you are just let go, " he says. "I came back to Belfast with no qualifications and I was completely floored for a year.

One minute I was a professional footballer, the next I was signing on the dole aged 21."

The FAI runs a Fas course for players returning from Britain in the hope of providing them with employment. Grants are also available from the Professional Footballers Association in Britain to help former members return to education.

While dozens of Ireland's brightest football talents continue to emigrate each year with dreams of playing in the Premiership, schemes such as these will offer a valuable lifeline for those who return with no education and their dreams shattered.