Varadkar: Delaney FAI loan ‘unusual’
Taoiseach calls €100k bridging loan ‘a bit unusual’ There is an ‘urgent need for clarity’ say FF
THE Taoiseach has described as ‘a bit unusual’ the idea that the FAI would need a €100,000 loan from its chief John Delaney, as he said organisations usually have banking facilities to cater for such needs.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has said there is an ‘urgent need for clarity’ on the matter.
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said it was ‘a bit unusual’ that the Football Association of Ireland would need a €100,000 loan from its chief executive John Delaney.
Mr Varadkar said he would have thought the FAI would have access to bank loans rather than relying on its own chief executive for cash.
The Taoiseach said: ‘In relation to the bridging loan, that of course is a matter for the FAI, which is an independent body, it has its own board. It does seem a bit unusual, a body of that size – given its operations and the funding it receives – I would have thought has banking facilities that would have provided for a loan.
‘I know that Sport Ireland and the Joint Committee of the Oireachtas will want to ask some questions about that as to why that came about,’ said Mr Varadkar.
He did say that Mr Delaney should not step aside, adding that it was a matter for the FAI board.
Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea called the bridging loan an ‘unusual transaction’ yesterday.
‘I think it was by way of bridging loan, which is a most unusual transaction,’ he said. ‘It’s a most unusual thing to happen. If an organisation is looking for money, they either raise the money themselves or they approach the bank or financial institution.
‘[It is] most unusual to get a loan, a bridging loan from the CEO, who is obviously not a banker or doesn’t have a lending licence of any shape or nature or description,’ said Mr O’Dea.
At present the FAI and Mr Delaney are scheduled to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport on April 10 when the issue of the loan will be addressed.
However, Mr O’Dea said the date of the FAI’s committee appearance should be brought forward as there is ‘an urgent need for clarity in a case like this’.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that Mr Delaney had given the FAI €100,000 in April 2017 in what he called a ‘bridging loan’. The money was paid back to Mr Delaney in June 2017.
The FAI claimed that the loan was in the best interests of the organisation as a short-term measure to address a cash-flow issue.
State agency Sport Ireland announced on Tuesday night that it had written to the FAI seeking ‘urgent clarification’ from the board over Mr Delaney’s loan.
The FAI said in a statement last night that a reply has been sent to the Sport Ireland chief John Treacy.
It read: ‘The FAI has answered all queries raised in the letter from Mr Treacy and looks forward to his response.
‘The FAI are also willing to meet with [Sports] Minister [Shane] Ross and Sport Ireland to discuss these matters further.’
The football association acknowledged that it has been invited to appear in front of the Oireachtas Committee on Sport on April 10.
It also revealed that it has written to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) offering ‘clarification on any issues raised by a 2017 bridging loan made by Chief Executive Officer John Delaney to the Association and will answer any questions that the ODCE may have’.
In its statement, the FAI did not address comments made by Mr Varadkar or Mr O’Dea.
News of the ‘bridging loan’ broke after the High Court rejected Mr Delaney’s application for an emergency injunction to prevent the Sunday Times from reporting it.
Mr Delaney had argued that the details of the loan should not be made public because the documents came from a family law case involving his ex-wife.
The judge ruled that there was a very clear public interest in publishing the material.
CEO is obviously not a banker