BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The Football Association of Ireland chief executive apologised on Tuesday for any offence caused by singing an Irish nationalist song in a pub.
A video posted on YouTube shows John Delaney in a pub singing "The Ballad of Joe McDonnell," a song about a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died in a 1981 prison hunger strike.
"I do accept that if I have upset anybody here, I'm sorry," Delaney told Irish broadcaster RTE.
The video shows Delaney singing only the end of a song that earlier features inflammatory lyrics about Britain.
"When you sing a song like that, you don't believe in every word that is in the song," Delaney said. "I sing a large number of songs, maybe five or six different ones. It's normally done in a private way when there is a sing-song. It's a typically Irish thing we do. We sing songs amongst our group and you expect it to be kept to the group."
The Provisional IRA killed nearly 1,800 people during a failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, then renounced violence, and surrendered its weapons in 2005.
Although singing about the Irish republican prisoners, Delaney stressed: "I am not somebody who supports violence."
"My grandfather fought in the [Irish] Civil War and he also fought in the War of Independence," Delaney said. "I have always said I have a nationalist background."
Delaney complained about the sly nature of the recording, which appeared to be taken after Ireland beat the United States 4-1 a week ago in a friendly.
Delaney has become embroiled in a sectarianism row as Ireland prepares to host England in March for the first time since a 1995 game in Dublin was abandoned due to violence.
Strife still looms at England matches, with anti-IRA chants from fans at last week's away friendly against Scotland prompting an apology on behalf of the FA from coach Roy Hodgson.