FAI ‘must do more’ if funding is to be restored

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said “more needs to be done” by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) if state funding is to be restored, despite former CEO John Delaney’s resignation on Saturday night.

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Examiner, Mr Varadkar said in his view the Delaney resignation, complete with an exit package of up to €500,000, will “help the organisation move on” from its recent troubled past.

Mr Varadkar has backed up strong comments from Sports Minister Shane Ross who insisted the details of any severance payment made by the FAI to Mr Delaney must be made public.

“John Delaney’s departure from the FAI will help the organisation to move on from the past. We are very keen to restore government funding to the FAI as soon as possible. I agree with Minister Ross though, that more needs to be done by the FAI before that’s possible,” the Taoiseach said.

Mr Ross described Mr Delaney’s departure as “welcome” but “inevitable” given recent events, but warned people should not think it represents “some sort of brave new world” at the FAI.

Mr Ross said the Government wants to know the extent of any financial agreement made with Mr Delaney.

“I think it’s absurd after all the controversy that we shouldn’t know exactly what the pay-off is,” Mr Ross said.

While welcoming the resignation of the former CEO and executive vice president, Mr Ross said root and branch governance reforms at the FAI are still required.

He said he wanted to see the “old regime renewed in its entirety”.

“It’s not good enough to chop off one head and save the rest of them. We’ve got to see root and branch reform.” he said.

The Irish Examiner understands the severance package figures, believed to be in the region of €500,000, will be made known in November when the FAI discloses its 2018 accounts.

It has also been claimed that the late-night announcement of Mr Delaney’s departure on Saturday was not a deliberate attempt to frustrate Sunday newspaper deadlines, but rather came as soon as the FAI was legally in a position to announce it.

Now that Mr Delaney, aged 52, has formally ceased his decade-and-a-half long association with the FAI, it is believed Uefa are to seek his resignation from its executive committee.

It is also understood that a possible €2m ‘golden handshake’ deal owing to Mr Delaney was “taken off the table” during the negotiations.

Mr Delaney served as FAI chief executive from 2005 until March 2019, when he moved to a new role as executive vice-president in controversial circumstances. This followed a Sunday Times report that he had given a bridging loan of €100,000 to his employers.