Former Football Association of Ireland independent chairman Roy Barrett has admitted that he made the decision that CEO Jonathan Hill should be paid in lieu of holidays.
The holiday payments to Hill led to a Sport Ireland investigation and €6.8 million of state funding being temporarily suspended.
Speaking at today's FAI annual general meeting at the Radisson Blue St Helen's Hotel in Dublin, Barrett said he took full responsibility and that the decision had been made in good faith.
Barrett said that he didn't seek board approval for his decision but that he still believed it was the right decision.
A Sport Ireland-commissioned audit identified that Hill received payments - which were made to him in lieu of holidays not taken and expenses related to commuting from the UK - that were above an agreed limit set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between the government and the FAI that led to the association's bailout in 2020. Hill has since repaid the sum, understood to be €12,000.
.@CorkTOD reports from a day in which the FAI held both an EGM - where the board was reconstituted for better gender balance - and an AGM, in which outgoing independent chair Roy Barrett defended his decision over payments to CEO Jonathan Hill. Full story: https://t.co/g03zFkDiQ4 pic.twitter.com/xNmCMFoVf2
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 9, 2023
Dave Moran from the Leinster FA branded Barrett's decision a disgrace and said he believed that the former chairman had overstepped the mark in not going through the remuneration committee or the association's board.
Peter Harvey said that it was wrong that one person could sanction a payment that breached the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding.
Hill expressed his "sincere regret over what has transpired in recent weeks" to the AGM, saying he wanted to "apologise unreservedly".
Former Tesco CEO Tony Keohane, from Cork, was ratified as Barrett's replacement as independent chairperson today.
Waterford native Paul Cooke was elected president, receiving 89 votes to Joe O'Brien's 21.
Cooke succeeds Gerry McAnaney, who stepped down after almost four years in office.
John Finnegan from the Munster Football Association was elected unopposed to the role of vice-president while Dave Moran of the Leinster Football Association was ratified as a director representing the Amateur Football Chamber.
Tom Browne (National Bodies – SFAI) and Nixon Morton (National Bodies – Other) were also ratified as directors following nomination by their respective chambers. Independent directors Catherine Guy and Liz Joyce, nominated by the nominations committee of the FAI, will each serve for a further two-year term following their ratification at the AGM.
Delegates at an EGM earlier in the day approved an extension of the board from 12 to 14 members in a vote which ensures the FAI will meet gender balance requirements set out by Government.
The AGM heard that FAI turnover was almost €54m in 2022, with borrowings reduced to €50.9 million. Total debt is now down to €40.3m, from €63.5m in 2021.
