New FAI Chairman Tony Keohane admits the FAI’s reputation has been damaged by the ongoing controversy surrounding erroneous payments received by its chief executive.
A full 17 weeks after the issue of Jonathan Hill accepting €11,500 payment in lieu of untaken holidays, a breach of the company’s handbook and exceeding State-set pay limits, the matter remains contentious in Governmental circles.
Keohane and Hill were among the FAI delegation at Kildare Street today to be quizzed by the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on finance and governance.
Whereas Hill told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on his last visit on December 13 that he “wasn’t asking for it (nor) didn’t push it”, the story changed on the morning of the sequel.
In their delayed opening statement, which angered the committee, he stated: “I made a suggestion in relation to my own unused holidays.”
Under questioning by the first speaker, Paul McAuliffe TD, Hill tried to elaborate by claiming he made a throwaway remark to then finance director Alex O’Connell. They had been dealing with a junior employee granted the same deviation from normal practice. "Can you negotiate the same for me please?"
After the confusion arising from the first version presented two months ago, the FAI had been requested through Sport Ireland to furnish email chains to verify Hill’s take on proceedings.
When these eventually arrived, also just an hour before this sitting, extracts and entire messages were redacted.
The FAI board meeting has ticked past midnight of the eve of the hearing as they grappled with legal advice around disclosing email correspondence.
Alan Dillon was especially scathing of the FAI leadership, branding Hill’s account as a "fabricated narrative". The
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