Lee Carsley has committed his future to England, which appears to completely rule the former Everton midfielder out of contention to be named the new permanent manager of the Republic of Ireland.
Despite recent reports claiming that Carsley was not interested in taking the vacant position, his name was continuously linked to the position following Stephen Kenny's departure last November.
The FAI previously confirmed that it would be in a position to announce the permanent replacement in April, which led to speculation that Carsley may be about to step away from his role with England after the current international window.
However, the former Ireland international said that he was "committed to this campaign", in relation to the current England Under-21 qualifiers, which extend beyond the summer.
"There was a feeling that I would go and do a senior job after the summer but speaking to [FA technical director] John McDermott and other people, I’m committed to this campaign," said Carsley, speaking to The Daily Mail.
"At some point, maybe it’s something I’ll do. I didn’t need convincing. I see myself as a development coach. I’ve not put myself out there, applying for jobs or anything. I definitely wouldn’t go down that route with the position I’m in and how lucky I am."
Carsley also spoke about his contact with the FAI regarding the international job in November, and while he said it was amicable, it did not progress.
"We had an initial conversation in November," said Carsley. "I went to speak to them. Really informal, enjoyable, for around an hour. It went no further.
"It was good to see what their thoughts were and to explore whether I was ready to take that next step. It just went no further. I didn’t push it.
"I’ve always said that I’m really privileged to do this job I’m in. I appreciate that I’m in a really good position with a lot of responsibility."
Meanwhile, the current Kenny replacement, John O’Shea, was speaking in Dublin ahead of the upcoming double header against Belgium and Switzerland.
And the interim Ireland manager said that things are progressing nicely after a couple of days training with the squad ahead of his first match in charge.
O’Shea said that he is looking to bring energy into the squad, while emphasising the certain things that the coaching teams are working on in order to prove competitive against one of Europe’s top sides on Saturday.
"What’s happened over the past couple of days has been brilliant as expected," said O’Shea speaking to the media at the team hotel in Castleknock.
"The players have taken everything on board. I’ve really enjoyed it, watching them with their intensity in training, and the details that myself Paddy [McCarthy] and Glenn [Whelan] in particular have been trying to get across to hopefully have a plan in place to do the job against Belgium.
"We had a quick meeting about our ideas and what we are looking for from the two games.
"In particular the first game, Belgium, in terms of what we are going to look at in training, our ideas, our approach on how we are going to stop Belgium and how we are going to try to create chances against Belgium as well and to hurt them.
"That was the main focus of it. But basically to bring an energy to the week, to the camp that is really enjoyable and focused on a mentality of winning football and finding a way to win big matches and if you can do that…and as I said before, this group will really go from strength to strength, because they are quality players, quality people, and they are playing well at their clubs too and it’s great to see."
Sitting alongside the interim manager was captain Seamus Coleman, who has returned to the squad having missed 12 months of international football.
Coleman’s last game in green was in March of last year, during the narrow defeat to France in Dublin, and the skipper admitted that he feared that his career was over when he was injured in a game against Leicester at the end of last season.
The Everton defender thought that he had suffered a cruciate injury, which could have ruled him out for 12 months, and knowing that his club contract was about to run out, he pondered his future away from football for the first time.
Coleman was subsequently stretchered off the pitch but put his personal problems behind him for a few moments by trying to rev up the crowd as Everton battled relegation.
Everton would survive, ending the season two points clear of relegated Leicester, and injury scans proved positive for the Ireland captain.
"It was a bit of a scare, the night of the Leicester game, because I kind of thought that might have been it," said Coleman.
"It looked to be a bad injury but thankfully I got away with it not being an ACL, which was important at my age and at the time."
"For the first time I did think that," he added, when asked did he think his career was possibly over.
"Obviously, I am not getting any younger but I do know from lads who got ACLs in the past that it is a nine to 12 months thing. My contract was up at the end of that season so I wasn't sure.
"To be honest, I wasn't really bothered as you could see when I was coming off on a stretcher. Right, we could be in real trouble here, this will be my parting act to the group, and I tried to rile the fans up going off on a stretcher.
"I did think maybe it would [be over]. That was dampened the next day when I had scan and somehow, touch wood got away with it not being an ACL.
"Still a serious injury but one I could come back from.
"I done my medial. Not as bad as it could have been and with the good care of the Everton medical team I got back to where I am."
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