Originally Posted by
EalingGreen
My recall is as follows. Soon after the Gibson Ruling by FIFA, the IFAB held one of their regular meetings, coincidentally in NI (the Slieve Donard).
Afterwards there was a Press Conference and (unsurprisingly) Blatter was asked about the Gibson situation etc. In his reply, as reported, he made it clear that his understanding was that the reason why NI-born players such as Gibson etc were entitled to represent the FAI was because they were Irish citizens "from birth". This was a clear contrast to the earlier situation with Qatar and Cape Verde, who were conferring their nationality (entirely legally, btw) upon "second tier" Brazilians, in order to cap them for themselves.
My recall is always capable of being faulty, I suppose, but in this case I am confident it is not and as evidence, I need only quote from the source which you cited earlier, namely:
"As the Fifa legal committee understood the issue, the situation in Northern Ireland is such that all Northern Irish players could opt to play for both Association teams, given that they have a birthright to an Irish passport." (my emphasis)