“The Association is grateful for the support that Fifa provides to Irish football, but recent events have raised significant concerns regarding governance, transparency and the lack of meaningful consultation.

“Following an FAI board meeting, the decision was taken to rescind the letter of support that the Association supplied earlier this year

“We take our responsibilities as a member association of both Uefa and Fifa seriously

“We support the current Uefa position on the matter and will continue to engage constructively on issues relating to football governance.

“We are of course aware of the recent developments and wider concerns within the football community. We are considering these matters carefully and will continue to engage through the appropriate governance structures and channels. At this stage, we have no further comment.

“It has since written to Fifa to explain its reasoning.

“One of the challenges that referees face at every level is actually understanding the challenges that we face. Fear of making mistakes, external opinion, spectators, managers, parents, media, colleagues. All these things feed into creating self-doubt, lacking confidence, and then things can spiral out of control and you lose the ability to actually have any confidence in what you're doing on the field.

“The firms need to file properly and avoid programs that could incentivize bad behavior