Sports Minister Shane Ross doubled down on the FAI yesterday as the feud between himself and the association escalated.
In an open letter last week, Mr Ross called for a complete regime change as the FAI continues to be rocked by ongoing financial scandals.
As part of this, Mr Ross urged the board members of the FAI to step aside and allow new personalities to bring about change and transparency.
But on Saturday night, FAI president Donal Conway announced - in direct defiance of Mr Ross’s request - that he intends to stand for re-election to his post at the FAI’s AGM next week.
Following an EGM of the FAI on Saturday night in Dunboyne, Co Meath, Mr Conway insisted the association’s members want him to be re-elected as president.
The Sports Minister responded quickly, doubling down to insist on “clean sweep” at the top of the FAI.
“I’m disappointed he’s made that decision,” Mr Ross told RTE News.
“I want a complete and utter change at the top of the FAI.”
Mr Ross said the Government wants to ensure good governance is taking place at the FAI.
“We don’t interfere with the internal workings of the FAI but we do insist that where our money is going, that it goes into a proper place and it’s being properly looked after,” he said.
The Government will not reinstate funding to the FAI until it is “absolutely sure” that taxpayers’ money was being used properly, Mr Ross added.
Football pundit Eamon Dunphy also expressed shock over Mr Conway’s plan to stand for re-election as FAI president.
Mr Dunphy said: “The developments this week are peculiar because Donal Conway intends to stand unopposed.
“Donal Conway has been there since 2005, and is inextricably linked to the Delaney regime. And he wants to stand unopposed? I don’t think that’s what the community wants.”
The comments come as the FAI is rocked by further allegations into alleged financial irregularities involving Mr Delaney.
Mr Delaney was being investigated by the FAI in relation to four separate allegations relating to financial irregularities, The Sunday Times revealed.
These investigations came on foot of concerns that Mr Delaney made a series of payments from FAI funds that were not in the ordinary course of FAI business and that the former CEO failed to use his FAI credit card properly.
The other two allegations being investigated by the FAI when Mr Delaney went on garden leave in April claim that Mr Delaney failed to manage the finances of the FAI and failed to control his personal expenses, according to The Sunday Times.
Specifically, part of these expenditures allegedly include FAI payments for Mr Delaney’s star-studded 50th birthday party, which took place at the Mount Juliet golf club in Co Kilkenny in 2017.
It also allegedly includes a €100,000 payment to Mr Delaney’s personal solicitor, Paddy Goodwin, and payments to Susan Keegan, his ex-girlfriend, although she denies receiving these payments.
The latest series of scandals involving the FAI and Mr Delaney began in March of this year after The Sunday Times revealed news of a €100,000 loan Mr Delaney made to the FAI in 2017.
