FAI to appear before Oireachtas Committee over governance

The Football Association of Ireland will appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport on 10 April. 

Chair of the committee Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd said the committee has urgently requested from the FAI that a governance review would be completed by early April.

Mr O'Dowd said the committee is also seeking confirmation that it will have the details of this review "well in advance" of their scheduled meeting with the FAI on 10 April.

He said the committee noted that the FAI has indicated it is willing to meet Minister for Sports Shane Ross and Sports Ireland to give more detail on the bridging loan from chief executive John Delaney to the FAI in 2017.

He asked that a "full and comprehensive" detail of this matter would be forwarded to the committee "urgently," Mr O'Dowd said. 

The committee is to meet Sports Ireland - which is responsible for governance, oversight and scrutiny of sports bodies - on 3 April.
 

Last Saturday Mr Delaney announced he was stepping down as chief executive and would be taking up a new role in the association on a substantially reduced salary in the wake of the controversy over a €100,000 loan to the FAI.

Mr Delaney will be taking up the newly-created role of executive vice-president, for which the association said he would be receiving a "substantially" reduced salary.

Mr Delaney earned €360,000 as chief executive of the FAI, a role he has held since 2005.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Mr Delaney had been living in a house rented by the FAI for €3,000 a month, which the paper said was in addition to his €360,000 salary.