FAI president Donal Conway will admit to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport that the association breached Sport Ireland rules when it did not inform the body about the €100,000 "bridging loan" which it received from John Delaney in April 2017.
RTÉ reports that in Conway's opening statement, which he will make when he appears before the committee on Wednesday, he will say:
I refer to Clause 4.3 of the 'Further Reporting' section of our annual terms and conditions. It requires the Association to notify Sport Ireland in writing in the event of any material deterioration in its financial position.
We acknowledge that certain circumstances arose in April 2017 which were not reported to Sport Ireland. We will work with Sport Ireland in order to establish a process to ensure the FAI are, in future, fully compliant with clause 4.3.
In a separate FAI statement from Conway, released on Monday, it was said that the association has told Sport Ireland that "some recent comments made by the FAI did not accurately reflect the Board’s level of awareness of the existence of the €100,000 issue in 2017."
A statement issued on March 18th, which was five days prior to Delaney stepping down as CEO to take up the new role of executive vice-president, said that the bridging loan was made "in the best interests of the FAI in 2017 when it experienced a short-term cash flow issue" and that the "Board of the FAI has been kept fully informed in relation to this matter at all times."
Delaney and other members of the FAI will appear before the Oireachtas committee tomorrow.
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
