Republic of Ireland FA chief executive John Delaney has resigned from his post, and it might be a chance for the organisation to improve it’s public perception, as the negative media exposure is clearly distracting fan’s from following the Irish National team.
Delaney had been in post as chief executive for 14 years before a restructure was announced in March. The FAI board announced the 51-year-old’s departure on Saturday.
That came in the wake of a review into the FAI’s financial dealings after it was revealed Delaney gave the governing body a 100,000 euro loan in 2017.
Delaney said the loan was designed to “aid a very short-term cash flow issue”.
The FAI stated the “bridging loan”, given in April 2017, was repaid in full to Delaney two months later.
Minister for Sport Shane Ross has said the details of any severance payment made by the FAI to its former chief executive John Delaney should be made public as part of the process of restoring funding to the association.
Mr Ross told RTÉ News that the Government wanted to know the extent of any financial agreement made with Mr Delaney.
In announcing Mr Delaney’s departure as executive vice president last night, the FAI said that it would “fulfill certain notice and pension obligations”.
Mr Ross said he also wanted to know if Government funds were used for this purpose, saying that the public needed to be confident that “large sums were not being paid unnecessarily”.
Mr Ross added that the first of three reports commissioned into the FAI’s financial affairs is expected to be published in about a week.
He said the government would have to study the contents of the reports before considering any restoration of funding, adding that a “very dark shadow still looms” over the FAI.
In 2012 Delaney cut all FAI staff wages by 10% and announced he would do the same with his wages. However in March 2019 it emerged that the FAI had awarded him a benefit-in-kind of €3,000 a month, €36,000 annually, towards the rent on his house. This outraged the staff as he already earned more than €300,000 more than most of them.
Picture: Photo Credit – The Irish Sun
