Eamon Dunphy believes Stephen Kenny has a real problem on his hands with unvaccinated players in his Ireland squad.
After Callum Robinson revealed he has opted not to get vaccinated against Covid-19, it's understood around eight of Kenny's current 26-man squad have also turned down the jab.
And explaining the situation on Wednesday, former RTE pundit Dunphy thinks it would be difficult for the Boys in Green boss to insist on players to get vaccinated.
Providing perspective on football's greater problems with Covid-19 vaccination, Dunphy pointed out that Robinson is among the majority when it comes to the issue.
"What I think is it's important to look at what's happening over in England, only seven of the Premier League clubs have fully vaccinated more than 50 percent of their squad," Dunphy told Claire Byrne on RTE Radio 1.
"Callum Robinson is in the majority. Manchester United have not got the majority of their squad vaccinated against the virus, and Jurgen Klopp who is the manager of Liverpool is very angry.
"He says he can't understand it, he thinks everybody should be vaccinated and that it should be more or less compulsory, but he realises he can't make it compulsory.
"If there's eight players in the 26-man Irish squad who are unvaccinated, then Stephen Kenny is doing better than the average in the Premier League."
And Kenny is presented with a 'problem' when it comes to the issue, with Dunphy insisting that there's little international managers can do to 'lay down the law'.
He added: "It's a real problem in sport in general, among young people and the other problem an international team manager has is he's only borrowing these players for this week.
"They belong to their clubs, that's who pays their wages, so he can't lay down the law - Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester (United).
"There's no way Stephen Kenny, or England manager Gareth Southgate, (could tell players to get vaccinated).
"The message (to frontline workers) is coming not from Stephen Kenny or the Ireland squad, it's coming from the football community all around the world.
"I think it's wrong, I think vaccination should be almost compulsory.
"These young men are impressionable, they read the stories online and I know that Stephen Kenny said yesterday in his press conference that virility is an issue.
"All of that stuff is out there and it is an issue, but he (Kenny) cannot lay down the law to players who don't belong to you."
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