FAI yet to answer questions from Oireachtas committee over governance plans

The Football Association of Ireland has not answered questions from the Oireachtas Sports Committee about governance plans in the wake of revelations over John Delaney and the sporting body's finances.

Committee chairman Fergus O'Dowd said it still planned to hold a hearing with FAI officials and former chief executive John Delaney on April 10.

The meeting comes after it emerged the former chief executive gave the association a €100,000 bridging loan and that he also lived in a house rented by the FAI for €3,000 a month.

This was in addition to his €360,000 a year salary.

Mr Delaney has now been given a new role as FAI executive vice president.

The sports committee met in private this morning and agreed a schedule of meetings to look into governance and oversight issues in the FAI.

Mr O'Dowd said afterwards that Sport Ireland would first appear before TDs and senators on April 3.

He said the sports body was responsible for governance, oversight and scrutiny and sporting governance in general.

On March 22, the committee had requested answers from the FAI over three issues, including clarity over when the association's governance review would be completed and whether its recommendations would be brought to the committee, in advance of a hearing with the footballing body.

The committee said the FAI statements showed it was willing to meet Sports Minister Shane Ross and Sport Ireland to give more information about the bridging loan agreement made between Mr Delaney and the FAI in 2017.

There had been a request that "full and comprehensive" detail on this matter would be forwarded to the sports committee and TDs in advance of the scheduled meeting for April 10. But Mr O'Dowd said the committee had still received no reply from the FAI to that correspondence.

We would now ask that the FAI would now supply this information urgently and at the earliest possible opportunity to commit to our committee and well in advance of our proposed April 10 meeting.

During the private meeting, TDs discussed hiring a governance specialist to advice members ahead of and during hearings on the FAI.

Members suggested seeking the advice of director of the UCD centre for corporate governance, Professor Niamh Brennan.

Elsewhere, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy is continuing to insist that Fianna Fail TD Kevin O'Keeffe must remove himself from the FAI hearings after he managed to attend last year's soccer World Cup with the help of the FAI.

The Cork East TD has confirmed that the FAI secured two tickets for the match between France and Croatia and he says that a friend paid €1,006 for the pair. Mr O’Keeffe is deputy chair of the sports committee.

Ms Murphy, who also sits on the sports committee, said it was up to the Cork TD to decide whether he would remain absent for the FAI hearings.

The matter has not been formally raised with other members on the sports committee.

Last Saturday, Mr Delaney announced he was taking up the newly created role of executive vice president. The FAI has said that he will be drawing down a "substantially" reduced salary in the new position.