Minister for Sport Shane Ross is hopeful the FAI will appoint four independent directors before Christmas, heralding a 'completely new dynamic' in Irish football.
While he ruled out the government purchasing the FAI's stake in Aviva Stadium, he assured football fans that the government are 'absolutely set against' the association going into liquidation or examinership.
The IRFU met with officials from the Department of Sport this afternoon and also ruled out taking on the FAI's stake in the stadium, as the football governing body looks at ways to reduce its €55m debt. The government earlier this week refused the FAI's request for an €18m bailout.
Having taken a hard line with the FAI since the extent of its financial crisis became clear, Ross suggested he may be prepared to soften his stance once the new directors are on the board.
"What the government is interested in doing is getting the independent directors on board as soon as possible" Ross told RTÉ News.
"That would open the key to a completely new dynamic in Irish football and that would be really important."
He added: "We anticipate there is a really good chance of that happening in the next few days, maybe even before Christmas. We are looking for four independent directors to be appointed, and once they are appointed we will be able to appoint a chief executive.
"After that we will hopefully have a new chairman and that will make relations a lot better between the government and the FAI and it will also make a huge difference to what happens in Irish football. It would be a turning point."
Declan Carey, chairman of Cork City FC, warned that the FAI's financial implosion would be 'catastrophic' for the League of Ireland.
"If the national association collapses the results of that would be catastrophic. It would impact the Euros, which are supposed to have games in Dublin next year, it will impact on European places that clubs vie for in the League of Ireland," he said. "It would have a lot more impact than the League of Ireland itself."
Ross insisted that football in Ireland would not be negatively impacted.
"The government wants to make absolutely sure that Irish football is preserved," he said. "We will look at absolutely everything but at this point a bailout is not on the cards.
"We are absolutely set against liquidation or examinership," he added. "Hopefully the FAI can operate on a completely and utterly new basis."
The Minister insisted he 'would not countenance' the League of Ireland suffering.
Minister Shane Ross confident FAI independent directors will be appointed soon, possibly before Christmas #rtesoccerhttps://t.co/MmoXlXwMbh pic.twitter.com/16C6MgMc0Y
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) December 19, 2019
