The FAI has "rephased" its debt after reaching an agreement with its three main lenders to extend the timeframe for repayments.
Last year the association said it was aiming to be debt free by 2031. However after Saturday's AGM, chief executive David Courell and president Paul Cooke revealed that target has been revised.
With a windfall coming in 2028 when Ireland will be co-hosts of the Euros, the FAI say they are now looking to have debts (which currently stand at €38m) cleared by 2036.
"We have rephased our debt, which is a good thing, not a bad thing," said Courell.
"We, traditionally, have three primary lenders – UEFA, FIFA and the Bank of Ireland being the biggest one.
"In the last three years our debt repayments have been in the region of €3.9m plus serving of debt on top of that of €1.5m, give or take.
"By virtue of this negotiation we will see the repayment to Bank of Ireland reduce from €3.9m to €1.5m over the next three years. We will catch up some of that lost ground in 2028 when we have the additional hosting revenue."
Asked if he was confident they'd debt free in 11 years' time, Cooke responded: "We're not fixated on it. We view the debt as a necessary part of running an organisation. Obviously our debt is very high and we want to bring it down. Debt is part of a business.
"The aim, the intention at this time, is to be debt free by 2036, but that could move."
Courell added: "It’s not unnatural for an association to carry some debt, the volume of what we’ve been carrying in recent years is what’s wrong but as you progress and the numbers get down to single figures, there’s nothing wrong with carrying a bit of debt."
At Saturday morning's EGM - which was held before the AGM and not open to the media - FAI general assembly members voted to submit a motion to UEFA to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions.
The EGM also discussed FAI plans to cut 60 jobs as part of their 'transformation programme'.
The FAI have agreed to engage in Workplace Relations Commission-facilitated talks with SIPTU on Wednesday 19 November. Earlier this week SIPTU wrote to Aoife Rafferty, the FAI's People and Culture Director, informing her that the trade union would convene a meeting of members to consider a motion for strike action unless the FAI confirmed it would attend the WRC.
"We formally wrote to the WRC on Tuesday before receiving any correspondence form SIPTU," said Courell.
"We absolutely accepted the voluntary invitation to attend, that date has now been set for 19 November, I believe, so we’ll move forward.
"We are a not-for-profit organisation so it is incumbent on us to try and be as effective with our resources as we can. When we did this process, ultimately the outcome was, we are working towards any reduction of circa 30% in the traditional football roles, and circa 10% in the support function roles.
"You might say that's imbalanced, but that's by virtue of, when we were able to look at all of our resources in the round, that’s where there was benchmarking data that clearly indicated there is amore efficient way to deliver. And as such, that is where we are."
Asked if senior management, including himself, had considered taking a pay cut, Courell replied: "Every option is on the table when you start out on these processes, but financial sustainability isn't the primary driver for this. I mean that when I say it. I think strategic alignment is the No 1, secondly a high performing organisation and then obviously finances is an element.
"My own observation, having come in since 2022, is that the scars are still there for the cuts that were imposed in 2010/2011. Understandably that still has a lingering impact on the culture of the organisation, there’s still a degree of resentment about that step.
"If you reflect on it, salaries in Irish football are not particularly handsome. Cutting them further and deeper, I don’t believe is the right thing.
"What this transformational programme is trying to achieve is the right people in the right places delivering in the right manner. And you need to invest in people if you want them to be firing on all cylinders, if you want them to be invested in the strategy, if you want them to be accountable for what you’re asking them to do, and therefore devaluing them, I don’t believe is the right strategy."
The AGM ratified the re-election of Cooke as president and Tony Keohane as chair of the FAI board, while Dave Moran (chair of the Leinster Senior League and President of the Leinster Football Association) was elected vice-president.
Cooke was asked if anyone else had put themselves forward to challenge Keohane. "We had an application after the process had been run," he said. "It was a date issue. They missed it. It was about four months after the date."
Elsewhere Geraldine Nagle and Ciara Carty were elected to FAI board as football and independent directors respectively, while Tom Browne and Nixon Morton were re-elected.
Bray Wanderers stalwart Pat Devlin was awarded honorary life membership of the association.
