‘TDs should not accept FAI drinks invite’

TDS should not attend an FAI reception before soccer chiefs are grilled over John Delaney’s €100,000 ‘bridging loan’, a member of the Oireachtas Sports Committee has said.

The FAI sent members of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport a ‘gentle reminder’ yesterday of an invite to the UEFA U-17 Championship draw, including dinner and drinks, in the Aviva Stadium on April 4, six days before the FAI and Mr Delaney are to appear before the committee for what is likely to be a lively exchange. Committee member Noel Rock TD told RTÉ radio: ‘Accepting the invitation would not be appropriate and I don’t think any member of the committee should accept the invitation.

‘I think we should keep the personal and the professional very separate up to and until John Delaney and the FAI board members appear before the committee.

‘The invitation would have been issued obviously in the full knowledge that the FAI were still due to appear before the committee. So in my view it’s an error and it should not have happened,’ said Mr Rock.

The invitation for the FAI to appear before the committee has been delayed twice but is now set for April 10.

It is expected the committee will quiz the FAI on governance as well as Mr Delaney’s €100,000 loan to the organisation.