FAI got €5m to halt any handball lawsuit against Fifa

Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, has urged football’s world governing body to conduct a full investigation into the “unprecedented and arbitrary payment” of $5m to the FAI, as a settlement after the infamous Thierry Henry handball incident in Paris in 2009.

Fifa last night confirmed “a €5m loan” had been agreed with the FAI and subsequently written off in 2014, claiming it was towards the “construction of a stadium”.

Their attempts to clarify the issue came in the wake of FAI chief executive John Delaney declaring it had secured “a very good and legitimate deal for the FAI”.