The FAI has appointed two female members to their general assembly board to exceed the Gvernment's gender balance requirement.
The addition of Ursula Scully and Laura Finnegan O’Halloran brings the board up to 14 directors, with 43% - six members - female.
That is over the 40% required by the terms of the memorandum of understanding between the Government and the FAI that led to the association's bailout in 2020.
That figure was to be reached by the end of 2023, but in November the general assembly of the FAI voted against a proposed constitutional change to allow two additional female candidates to join the board putting State funding at risk.
However, a further EGM in December carried the motion 110 to six.
Catherine Guy, Liz Joyce, Niamh O'Mahony and Maeve McMahon are the other female members on the board.
Scully returns to the board following a two-year spell from 2019 to 2021. She is the secretary of the North Tipperary Schoolchildren's Football League and a committee member with the Munster FA. She has been elected as a football director to the board.
Finnegan O’Halloran, a lecturer in Sport Management and Talent Development in SETU Waterford and known for her research into football development, has been elected as an independent director.
Chair of the FAI board Tony Keohane said: "On behalf of the FAI Board, I would like to congratulate both Ursula and Laura on their appointments. I have no doubt that they will be fantastic additions to what is now a highly-skilled Board who are passionate about helping to continue developing Irish football at all levels."
FAI President Paul Cooke said: "I would like to welcome Ursula and Laura to the FAI Board following their elections. The Board will benefit from this addition of two directors who have strong backgrounds in business, education and football.
"I would also like to thank members of the General Assembly for ratifying these appointments which help us to meet the Government quota of female representation on our Board."
