FAI’s gender requirement met with new appointments
THE FAI yesterday exceeded the Government requirement of at least 40 per cent female representation on their board by ratifying the appointment of Ursula Scully and Laura FinneganO’Halloran at an EGM in Dublin.
Those two new directors join Catherine Guy, Liz Joyce, Niamh O’Mahony and Maeve McMahon on the board, bringing it up to a 43 per cent female representation and ensuring grants of €4.35 million.
Scully returns to the board following a two-year spell from 2019 to 2021 and has been elected as a football director on the board. Scully is the secretary of the North Tipperary Schoolchildren’s Football League and a committee member with the Munster FA.
Finnegan-O’Halloran is a lecturer in Sport Management and Talent Development in SETU Waterford and is known for her research into football development. She has been elected as an independent director.
‘I would like to welcome Ursula and Laura to the FAI Board following their elections,’ said FAI president Paul Cooke. ‘The Board will benefit from this addition of two directors who have strong backgrounds in business, education and football. I would also like to thank members of the General Assembly for ratifying these appointments which help us to meet the Government quota of female representation on our Board.’
The FAI have also confirmed that Ireland under-17 girls will fulfil their competitive fixture against Israel in Albania on February 23. The two countries are due to meet as part of a three-team tournament that will determine seeding for Euro 2025 U17 competition.
It’s believed that Irish Sport for Palestine, the campaign group who called for Ireland women’s basketball team to boycott their EuroBasket 2025 qualifier with Israel last week are less inclined to bring pressure about this fixture as there are minors involved.
Ireland’s women’s basketball team lost 87-57 to Israel in Riga last Thursday in a game that was overshadowed by calls for a boycott and an Israeli player calling the Irish side ‘quite antisemitic.’