Ireland coach Andy Farrell has said he will "always do the right thing for Irish rugby" amid reports linking him with a British and Irish Lions role.

The report also said Gatland wants Scotland coach Gregor Townsend and England defence coach John Mitchell.

"Like I've always said - and it's the truth - I will always do the right thing for Irish rugby," said Farrell.

The Lions are due to visit South Africa in July and August for a three-Test series against the world champions.

However, issues around Covid-19 have led to uncertainty over the tour going ahead in South Africa, with Ireland's planned tour of the Pacific Islands also up in the air.

"There's nothing I know of that's going on at this moment in time that gives any clarity on the situation whatsoever," added Farrell, who was the Lions' defence coach for the 2013 and 2017 tours to Australia and New Zealand.

"We don't know whether there is a Lions tour going on; we don't know whether there is a southern tour going on with Ireland. I hear that hopefully by the end of the month we will know something more concrete."

When asked if Ireland's Pacific Islands tour would rule him out of linking up with the Lions, Farrell said: "Again, we don't know what that tour looks like yet. I don't know what's happening as far as the Lions is concerned regarding warm-up matches.

"I suppose the fall-out from those warm-up matches is going to have different ramifications on what happens, and who is available for tours.

"We don't know what the map looks like."

Meanwhile, Farrell says Ireland's remaining Six Nations games against Scotland and England will define how their championship is viewed.

Ireland travel to Murrayfield on 14 March before hosting England in Dublin on 20 March.

"They are two massive games for us," said Farrell, who said he expects to have a "fully fit" squad by next week ahead of the Scotland game.

"They are the old enemies, aren't they? The rivalry is as ripe as ever with Scotland and with England.

"All three teams want to finish the Six Nations on a high and that's why we love it so much."

Farrell added: "The goalposts keep changing week to week in the Six Nations and there's an emotional aspect that comes to that as well. We know going to Murrayfield, in the recent past we've come unstuck there.

"We know how well they are playing at the minute and how well that we'll need to play to come away with a victory."

Farrell also did not rule out the possibility of Jacob Stockdale playing a part in the remainder of the Six Nations with the Ulster winger having returned from a two-month knee injury lay-off in the province's Pro14 victory over Ospreys on Friday.

"It's great to see him back. I know that from speaking to him at the start of the competition he was very frustrated with how slow the injury was coming on.

"I know how diligently he's been working with the medics up there at Ulster so he's done great to get himself back on the field and put himself back into contention.

"He got a chunk of the game there last weekend and hopefully he'll get more game time this weekend against a very good Leinster side. So we'll see how Jacob shapes up and what the rest of the squad looks like on the back of that."