Liam Brady will help new Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni to familiarise himself with his players.
Brady is director of Arsenal’s youth academy – but the club have agreed to him working with Ireland.
“The board of directors and Arsene Wenger are quite happy for me to do this and to keep my job at Arsenal,” Brady told RTE.
“Trapattoni needs to get to know the players and I can help him with that.”
Brady played under Trapattoni during his spell at Juventus in the 1980s.
“I will be with Giovanni Trapattoni and assist him in all he does,” added Brady.
One of the Brady’s first tasks is to convince Steve Finnan and Andy O’Brien to change their minds over their decision to retire from international football.