FAI sought State 'bailout' of €18m, Oireachtas committee hears

The FAI sought a State “bailout” of up to €18m at a meeting earlier this week with Sports Minister Shane Ross.

Sports Minister Shane Ross said that, at a meeting earlier this week between himself and the FAI, the association had arrived looking for a State “bailout” of up to €18m.

Speaking at a six-hour-long Oireachtas committee hearing to discuss an independent audit of the association by private consultants KOSI, Minister Ross said the Monday meeting, details of which the attending members of the FAI declined to divulge in its aftermath, had been a “sobering” experience.

Asked directly how much money had been requested, Mr Ross replied “they looked for various scenarios and €18m as a possibility”.

“That’s what they looked for, or alternatively a guarantee of that, but they named that figure,” he said, adding that the request had been “shocking”.

We made it absolutely clear to them that they would not be getting a bailout, that KOSI had said they would not be getting any funding, and that any further discussion was pointless.

He said he could not comment as to whether or not the withholding of that funding had left the FAI unviable, but acknowledged the “precarious” position the association appears to be in. Both Mr Ross and his junior minister Brendan Griffin acknowledged that should the FAI be dismantled, the League of Ireland and international teams would also cease to be, per UEFA statutes.

With regard to the KOSI audit, Mr Ross confirmed that given the report is “central” to investigations being undertaken by both the gardaí and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, it would not be possible to make the report public.

At the same meeting John Treacy, the head of Sport Ireland, confirmed that the KOSI report had concluded that all public funds delivered to the FAI by the body had been dispersed properly. However Mr Ross further stated that the audit shows the association “is not fit to handle public funds”.

Pressed as to how that could be given funding had been distributed correctly, Mr Treacy replied “because of other elements in the report”. No clarity was given as to what those elements might be given the ongoing nature of the Garda and ODCE investigations.

A meeting meanwhile is expected to take place tomorrow between rugby body the IRFU and the Department of Sport with regard to that organisation taking over the FAI’s share in the Aviva Stadium (or the association’s €29m debt tied up in the venue) with the goal of aiding the association’s ailing finances

The FAI’s restated accounts for 2017 and 2018 were released earlier this month and revealed that the body has liabilities of €55m - a figure which Mr Griffin today revised as being €62m in totality. Auditors Deloitte meanwhile pointedly declined earlier this month to affirm the association as a going concern.

Minister Ross said that he “regretted” to say that the financial and corporate governance issues surrounding the association remain unresolved, and that as such sports capital funding for the FAI will remain suspended.