FAI to give update on financial accounts

FAI council members convening for their quarterly meeting today will be updated on the status of the 2018 annual accounts, which may not be available until December.

Financial and governance turmoil at the association prevented directors from performing the traditional ritual of presenting audited accounts to delegates before their AGM on July 27.

That summit, held in Trim, Co Meath, was adjourned pending the availability of the figures. It is now thought that the 79 members will today be informed of a date in December when accounts will be available.

That’s not the only delay facing the organisation.

Hopes of having the complete interim 12-person board filled in time for today’s meeting have been dashed by a protracted process of appointing four independent directors.

The quartet — one of whom will act as chairman — are being sourced through recruitment firm Amrop.

Eager to get on with stabilising the body, the FAI’s declaration from a fortnight ago of making an announcement “in the coming weeks” has proven unsuccessful.

It is understood two of the independent directors will be female, a necessary step towards achieving a gender balance of four by July 2021.

Neither will there be immediate sight of findings from the various reports.

FAI president Donal Conway, one of only two directors to survive the summer cull, vowed at the last council meeting in May to have the first module of the Mazars report available “in the next six weeks”. It has yet to see the light of day.

KOSI, the firm commissioned by Sport Ireland to probe use of grant funds and to examine in detail the “FAI’s wider financial administration and internal control environment”, were last month close to completing their work. That was until news broke of a severance deal to former chief executive John Delaney. His payout will be contained in the 2018 accounts as projected expenditure.

“In light of developments in recent days, KOSI have requested additional time to seek and review extra material from the FAI,” Sport Ireland told the Oireachtas committee for sport on October 1.

The most serious of the ongoing investigations is by the state’s corporate watchdog, the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement. They have interviewed past and current directors of the FAI.

Meanwhile, Fifa have set a deadline of 2022 for bids on the 2030 World Cup. The UK associations and Ireland are conducting a feasibility study.

Also announced by Fifa yesterday were the latest world rankings. Ireland fell eight places to 36.