Irish FA president Conrad Kirkwood accepts there is "always room for improvement" when it comes to supporting referees.
Match officials have been thrust under an unforgiving spotlight recently with a number of Premiership managers hitting out following some high-profile errors.
NI Football League CEO Gerard Lawlor recently said support was needed for referees, while Warrenpoint Town boss Barry Gray said he fears more may walk away from the game due to heightened scrutiny and ongoing flak.
Speaking as the IFA published its new five-year strategy document on Thursday entitled ‘A Roadmap For Football – Irish FA Corporate Strategy 2022-27', Kirkwood said: "I see things have come to a head recently, and there is always room for improvement.
"There are a few things we have been looking into. Firstly, post-Covid there has been a strange phenomenon, and it's not particular to Northern Ireland, that a number of referees were lost to the game. They didn't come back.
"What we have done is that we have tried to recruit more referees and we are at the point where we have parity to what we had two years ago. We have had an influx of about 130 new referees.
"There is a challenge in training them and identifying those who have a future higher up the structure. There is the development of those referees, and the women's and intermediate level, and then we have our elite referees and we have to support them going forward."
Kirkwood also says there needs to be respect for referees, and likewise from officials to managers and players.
He believes better communication would help improve what has often been a thorny relationship on and off the pitch.
"People will talk about respect for referees, which is very important, and there has to be respect from referees," Kirkwood added.
"Better communication would be something that would improve the situation. So that would be mutual respect between the guys that run the teams and guys who play for the team, and the referee and their team.
"And referee's are human. They make mistakes. They are the same as the rest of us in that they have come through a very difficult two years through Covid.
"We have all had very difficult challenges and difficulties surrounding job insecurity, losses in family, and all types of uncertainty.
"They had a break and then came back to football full of passion for the game.
"So there is something we can do around that in supporting referees' health and mental well-being. If someone is struggling with things outside football, it makes it harder for them to do a good job in football.
"So we can look at how we do that, over and above chaplaincy services that we already have."
He added: "My observation over recent times is that there are quite a few people who have ideas on what may help, and I think the challenge is getting them all pulling in the same direction."
Meanwhile, IFA chief executive Patrick Nelson says the association will continue supporting referees at all levels.
He said: "We need to support our referees who are in the game at the moment.
"We need to ensure their training and development is as good as it can be, and we will work with our referee team to make that happen.
"We will also work with our other stakeholders such as the Northern Ireland Referees' Association, and I think it's important that word respect keeps coming through.
"We will consider what respect means, and possibly there is a need for a respect campaign that goes both ways and circles football, but focuses on refereeing."
