FAI Board 'regret' issues surrounding payments to CEO Jonathan Hill

The Board of the FAI are fully committed in learning lessons in relation to payments made to chief executive Jonathan Hill and pledge to find a solution to their requirement to have 40% female representation on its board.

The audit commissioned by Sport Ireland found that the FAI's CEO Hill received payments made in lieu of holidays not taken and expenses related to his commute from the UK, were above the agreed limit which was set in the Memorandum of Understanding between the FAI and the Government which led to the association's 2020 bailout.

In the statement the Board stated "Regarding the MOU clause relating to CEO remuneration, the Board has conducted a full and detailed review of the issue with the Executive. 

"The Board regret what happened and are committed to ensuring the lessons learned are fully adopted.

"The Board and the Executive team fully accept the recommendations of the report from Sport Ireland and are committed to implementing the recommendations immediately."

The Board also discussed the recent EGM on November 9 where the decision was taken not to approve changes to the Constitution which would have enabled the FAI to achieve its 40% female gender representation by the end of 2023.

Elsewhere, in relation to the female representation on the board, the required 75% majority required for the proposal to make the change in the constitutional to allow an additional two female members on the board was no reached when it was put before the delegated at the EGM last week.

As part of terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the FAI are required to have 40% female representation on the board by the end of this year.

Also, the Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and