Robbie Keane's €250k FAI salary 'is not taxpayers' money'

Then Republic of Ireland assistant coach Robbie Keane pictured in 2019. File picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Sources close to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have said no part of Robbie Keane's €250,000 salary is taxpayer-funded, after a Government senator called for him to donate his salary to grassroots football as clubs were said to "desperately need increased funding".

Ireland’s greatest ever goalscorer with 68 international goals — which puts him in the elite of world football — Tallaght native Robbie Keane was appointed assistant manager to then-manager Mick McCarthy in 2018.