Alan Quinlan joined Monday's OTB AM to discuss the idea of London Irish being treated as a 'fifth province' by the IRFU.
The idea had been suggested in the past and it would essentially mean that Irish players could ply their trade in the English Premiership with London Irish and still be eligible for selection by Andy Farrell.
"I don’t know where it’s at now but I heard it was a real possibility a couple of months ago," Quinlan said.
"Hopefully it does happen because it would be beneficial to both Ireland and London Irish."
What would such an agreement look like between the club and the IRFU?
"I don’t think there’s going to be any financial kind of crossover here," Quinlan explained.
"I think it’s just literally the IRFU doing an agreement with London Irish that they are going to pick Irish players if London Irish sign them. It’s that simple.
"It would be a great idea and I think it’s likely to happen because it makes perfect sense to both Ireland and London Irish."
If an agreement came to fruition, what would the benefits be for Ireland?
"The idea of London Irish being a fifth Irish team to select from would be brilliant because it would effectively give Ireland a whole new team to pick from," Quinlan explained.
This would help the IRFU in their long-term project of expanding the player pool.
The chance for some of Ireland's players to play in a different competition to the PRO14 and experience different challenges would also be very beneficial, according to Quinlan.
"It would give more of an opportunity for the players to go and play in the Premiership," he said.
"Playing in probably a more intense league week after week where it is so important to win every game because relegation is a big issue.
"I think that would be beneficial to the players and Andy Farrell if a couple of Irish guys go there."
Quinlan used the example of Jordi Murphy's move to Ulster to illustrate why sending players to London Irish would be a great option for the IRFU to have.
"Someone like Jordi Murphy who has played so well for Ireland for a number of years but because of all the competition in Leinster, he goes to Ulster," Quinlan said.
"I just think even though it’s a different team, it’s the same league, it’s still very similar. For me, if I was in that situation and I could still play for Ireland I’d be really attracted to going across the water and playing in a different competition.
"We could learn a lot from some of our players being in different environments."
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