Day by day, how crisis at the FAI has unfolded
March 16, 2019 John Delaney attempts to prevent The Sunday Times from publishing the story about his €100,000 loan to the FAI in April 2017. The High Court rules in favour of the paper. The FAI issues the first statement on behalf of Delaney in which he called the €100k a ‘bridging loan’ to solve ‘a very shortterm cash flow issue’.
March 17 The story is published and the FAI issues a larger statement saying an external consultant has been hired to conduct a full review into the FAI’s executive governance. Commenting on the loan again in the statement, The CEO said: ‘I hold regular meetings with our director of finance regarding the state of our finances and all items arising are conveyed to our board at our monthly meetings. This was the case in 2017.’
March 18 The FAI issues another statement due to the number of queries it was receiving about the loan. It states the €100k was paid back to Delaney in June 2017 and reiterates: ‘The board of the FAI has been kept fully informed in relation to this matter.’
March 19 Sport Ireland, which provides Exchequer funding to the FAI, says it has written to the FAI president seeking ‘urgent clarification’ on the Delaney loan as it was not made aware of ‘any apparent material deterioration’ in the FAI’s financial position in 2017.
March 20 The FAI issues a statement saying it has responded to Sport Ireland and would be willing to meet with the agency and Sports Minister Shane Ross to discuss matters. It also states that it wrote to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement offering clarity on the loan if needed.
March 20 The Taoiseach is asked if Delaney should resign. He replies: ‘No, not in my own view, but that would not be a matter for me, that’s a matter for the FAI board.’
March 23 After Ireland’s win against Gibraltar, the FAI announces Delaney will be stepping down as CEO and moving to a new position of executive vice-president with immediate effect. Chief operating officer Rea Walshe is appointed interim CEO.
March 24 The FAI states that Delaney would see a drop in salary in his new role. It says it will begin interviews for a new CEO in May.
March 26 Football fans at Ireland’s home game against Georgia throw tennis balls on the pitch to show their dissatisfaction with the handling of the loan controversy.
April 3 CEO of Sport Ireland John Treacy tells the Oireachtas Committee on Sport that the FAI has yet to offer a satisfactory explanation for the €100k loan and refused to say he had confidence in the board of the FAI.
April 8 FAI President Donal Conway issues a statement saying recent comments by the FAI ‘did not accurately reflect the board’s level of awareness of the existence of €100,000 issue in 2017’. April 9 Sport Ireland announces it is suspending funding to the FAI.
April 10 Delaney and members of the FAI board sit before the Oireachtas Committee on Sport but Delaney declines to answer questions on the loan, citing legal advice.
April 12 Asked again about Delaney, the Taoiseach says he doesn’t think ‘anyone would be satisfied’ by Delaney’s refusal to answer questions about corporate governance at the FAI but that he was within his legal right not to do so.