FAI president Cooke disappointed at Barrett's role in Hill saga

New FAI President Paul Cooke was disappointed to be kept in the dark about Jonathon Hill’s preferential treatment on pay – suggesting the rest of the FAI board felt the same.

A hefty chunk of Saturday’s five-hour annual general meeting of the association was consumed by Roy Barrett defending his decision to grant the CEO €12,000 worth of untaken holidays and conceal it from fellow board members.

Not only did the secretive move breach FAI policy to leave employees seething but also contravened the Memorandum of Understanding – the list of conditions the FAI must comply with as part of the State bailout.

The deviation was only shared with the full board in early November after an audit commissioned by Government agency Sport Ireland uncovered discrepancies.

New independent Chairman Tony Keohane insisted such practice wouldn’t recur under his watch but the predecessor Barrett will have to face further interrogation by an Oireachtas hearing on Wednesday.

Hill is also scheduled at Leinster House for the hearing after the episode – which also included a Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax liability on his expenses having to be paid in arrears – led to a suspension of State grants.

Barrett was the lone voice in batting for Hill, retaining an entrenched position on his authority to go solo for fear of leaks to the media by his colleagues. He further darkened the mood in the Radisson Blu Stillorgan conference room by unloading a scathing outburst about politics and factions hampering progress in Irish football.

The multimillionaire from his time as managing director of Goodbody Stockbrokers didn’t last long in the room after his tirade but an admission by his fellow director Catherine Guy that new processes were being implemented