FAI apologises to staff over 'negative media'

The FAI have apologised to their staff over the 'negative media' surrounding the corporate governance furore currently the subject of adverse Government attention.

Sport Ireland funding has been halted after the agency uncovered concerning matters around the remuneration package of chief executive Jonathan Hill as part of an audit.

Accounting firm KOSI established that Hill was paid €12,000 in 2022 in lieu of holidays not taken despite this practice being prohibited in the staff handbook for their 240 employees.

SIPTU, which represents the unionised workforce at Abbotstown, on Monday slammed the practice as double standards and reflective of an ‘Upstairs/Standards’ culture permeating through the organisation.

Hill, who hasn’t relocated from his London base to Dublin from his London home three years in the job, must also pay €8,500 in benefit in kind (BIK) on the expenses arising from his regular commutes.

Several board members are unhappy with the handling of the matter, a few understood to be willing to resign last week, and answers as to who knew what when were sought at a meeting of the board last night. The timeline of events, when it eventually emerges, will be most curiously scrutinised.

Independent Chairman Roy Barrett left colleagues shocked last Thursday by resigning without even the directors being assembled.

His replacement has been proposed.

Former Tesco Ireland chief executive and Chairman Tony Keohane, a Cork native based in Dublin, has emerged through an interview process to be proposed by the nominations committee. The FAI described the newcomer as a passionate football supporter. Among his other chair roles is that of Irish Water, known as Uisce Eireann.

In an email that succeeded in only angering rather