‘IT’S FAIR TO SAY THE FAI REPUTATION WOULD NOT BE PRISTINE’

controls and oversight. From a moral point of view, they (witnesses) should be here,’ said Stanley. Keohane stood over ‘the best team’ for the three-hour grilling in which the FAI admitted it spent €1m of Covid-19 funding on clearing its debt, which stands at €43m. FAI finance director Dan McCormack revealed yesterday that the cash at the association’s disposal is in ‘low single-digit millions’ and ‘closer to one than nine’. A mishandling of the State’s resilience funds is a black mark against the FAI which is seeking over half a billion for its 15-year facilities and investment plan. The tone of Stanley suggested it had done itself few favours. ‘They are looking for €517m from the public purse over a 15-year period. That is a significant amount of money and it puts a huge onus on the department and Sport Ireland to ensure there is proper accountability and proper governance and full transparency in how that is accounted for. ‘I think in the FAI’s situation, because of recent enough history, it’s fair to say that the reputation would not be wonderful or pristine.’ That ‘reputation’ was further dented as Hill delivered a hazy explanation about the background to his secret payment in lieu of untaken holidays in 2022. His suggestion that a throwaway comment, together with an exclamation mark, was misinterpreted in an email to the FAI’s former finance chief, Alex O’Connell, didn’t wash. Within the few emails presented to PAC, there is a discourse between O’Connell and Hill with the former stating he was ‘trying to pay’ (the untaken holidays) ‘as per your (Hill’s) request.’ Within a minute, Hill replied ‘Perfect.’ Clearly, Hill could have called a halt to his ‘throwaway remark’ at that point, but he didn’t. Instead, he let O’Connell process the payment which he took, until the KOSI audit when ordered to give it back. Alan Dillon TD was unimpressed with Hill’s ‘fabricated narrative’ while O’Connell could not give his version of events having been left off Keohane’s ‘best team.’ While Keohane insisted Hill was ‘the right man’ to take Irish football ‘forward’ president Paul Cooke was more circumspect. He said his confidence in Hill ‘had been challenged by recent events.’ Hill was adamant he not misled anyone, either at the December 13 hearing or yesterday, and insisted the FAI was in a better place. ‘For two and a half years we were off the back pages,’ he said. ‘You’re back on it now, interjected Cormac Devlin TD. ‘We’re the most governed body,’ countered Hill. ‘There’s a good reason for that,’ said Devlin. Hill said the FAI could expect a €2m fee from UEFA for hosting the Europa League final in Dublin on May 22 but COO David Courell cautioned it could be less depending on ‘effective delivery of the final.’ One can only pray the FAI delivers for UEFA better than it did for Irish football yesterday.