Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on Transport, Tourism and Sport Robert Troy says that the Football Association of Ireland’s chief executive John Delaney needs to come before the Oireachtas Committee to answer serious questions about financial transactions.

The FAI has a responsibility to adhere to government protocols, he told RTE radio’s Morning Ireland.

“My advice to John Delaney is he should use his appearance before the Oireachtas Committee to answer why the FAI needed funding, why they didn’t use a financial institution for bridging finance, why was the transaction not declared in the 2017 accounts? Why was there an effort to conceal?”

Mr Troy said the FAI has a responsibility to adhere to strict corporate governance guidelines introduced after the ticketing scandal at the Olympic games in Rio-de-Janeiro.

If the FAI has not yet implemented such governance guidelines then Mr Delaney needs to advice the Oireachtas Committee why that is so.

The failure to ensure openness and transparency raises suspicions, he said and leaves “a cloud of darkness over the FAI.”

There was no reason to believe that Mr Delaney would not answer such questions at the Committee, he added.

By Vivienne Clarke – Irish Examiner