<text>  Martin ONeill has confirmed that a representative for Harry Kane approached him expressing his clients interest to play for the Republic of Ireland. The Ireland manager had admitted last summer that he was chasing up a lead with a player at Tottenham Hotspur and the 21-year-old was the man in ONeills sights. Despite being offered encouragement by Kanes camp, the striker, whose father was born in Galway, insisted in August that his only aim was to break into the senior England squad. And after his breakthrough season in the Premier League, ONeill has accepted that the chase to land him is over. Harry Kane celebrates scoring his second goal as Tottenham beat QPR 2-1 at Loftus Road last Saturday . The England Under 21 striker is also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland because of his father . Yeah, yeah, it is. I was talking to somebody about this last night and we were just saying that Harry himself always wanted to play for England. Really, it was as simple as that, he said. The order of events though I dont think its really important any more is that initially the agent got in touch and said that he would have a keen interest, and we wanted to go and chase it up. But then I noticed in the newspaper where he said he wanted to play for England. And that has remained the same. Someone was even speaking to him recently and that was exactly the same conversation. Fine, if thats the case. Before Kane propelled himself into the limelight, with 26 goals to his name already this season, ONeill felt it was possible he would opt for Ireland. Ireland boss Martin ONeill has revealed that Kane was interested in representing Ireland before this season . Considering what the agent said to me, he added. Sometimes what agents do is they have someone who looks after the player who is not actually licensed to buy or sell or be involved as an agent but they look after the player. And he was the one who called. But he happened to call me on a day when Harry Kane said he wanted to play for England. It would have been really nice, absolutely. Theres a fairly decent chance he might have had a few caps for us before he actually makes his debut for England, considering the way hes playing. One Harry who will join up with the Ireland squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier with Poland later this month is Harry Arter. The Bournemouth midfielder has impressed as his side top the Championship and O Neill revealed that there will be further additions to his plans in the coming months. Kane has scored 26 goals so far this season and is on the brink of Roy Hodgsons England squad . I dont want to sound like a detective here but Im following up on a number of leads. Honestly, I think theres one or two might come to fruition in the next couple of months, maybe even before the Scotland game, that might be pleasantly surprising. Im saying that, maybe Im being optimistic. If I thought things were really worth chasing up and somebodys...I think sometimes the agent is seemingly almost like an excuse preventing that. One particular lad has called me who has bypassed agents and hed be pretty keen. And Im putting something in motion at the moment. Although ONeill was coy on revealing any names. Do you know, I cant really at this minute. Would probably end up embarrassing myself when he turns out and plays for Czechoslovakia. 