The Pitch: Questions for Department of Sport after report into Kildare football controversy

Concern rumbles on about the switch in ownership of a new football facility, FBD Park at Killashee in Naas.

The issue for Patrick O’Donovan is how his own department ignored repeat warnings that public money was being used to finance the running of a private enterprise. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

MINISTER Patrick O’Donovan and the Department of Sport have been written to by a Kildare underage football league after a forensic financial investigation uncovered concerning discoveries.

Hundreds of thousands of euro in cash and assets were removed from the children’s league and placed under the ownership of a League of Ireland academy club, while a former league director and his wife were paid thousands of euro in payments. The club insists those payments were for legitimate expenses.