John Delaney to get six-figure salary in new role
John Delaney, who stepped down as FAI chief executive on Saturday, will receive a six-figure salary in his new role as executive vice-president, it is believed.
Mr Delaney will be part of an FAI delegation which will go before the Oireachtas sports committee next month, it was confirmed yesterday.
In a statement, the national soccer body claimed Mr Delaney will be paid “substantially less than the salary he previously received as CEO”, which was €360,000.
It is understood his salary in the new role will be in the region of €120,000, but the FAI would not confirm or deny this figure when asked by the Irish Examiner.
Sport Ireland, the body through which taxpayers’ money is channelled to the FAI, is expected to deliver a report to the Government this week on the alleged €100,000 bridging loan from Mr Delaney.
The FAI would also not comment on reports that the organisation paid €3,000 rent a month to allow Mr Delaney live in a house in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, owned by TV star Gráinne Seoige and her former husband since 2016.
Previously, the FAI paid rent of just under €3,000 a month for Delaney to live in a house in Malahide, it was reported.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said yesterday that there are unanswered questions relating to the financial dealings of the FAI. He said he and his Government need assurance that state funding to the soccer body is being used for its prescribed purpose.
When asked was he aware of any of these matters relating to the FAI and Mr Delaney when he was sports minister, Mr Varadkar replied: “Oh God no.”
The hearing with the sports committee will occur on April 3 as opposed to April 10.
Committee chairman Fergus O’Dowd said it will be “fair, focused, but robust”. He insisted that the hearing, which has been delayed at the behest of the FAI on a number of occasions, “will not be a witch hunt”.
Fianna Fáil sports spokesman Robert Troy said the resignation of Mr Delaney “raises more questions than answers over a bridging loan provided to the FAI from Mr Delaney”.
“The uncertainty around the loan must be answered and I expect John Delaney to come before the Oireachtas committee in early April or sooner to answer this, explain the remit of the new role, and if his actions were not becoming of a CEO why should he take up an executive vice-president role within the FAI,” he said.
In its statement, the FAI said it has “confirmed that John Delaney will be part of the FAI delegation that will attend a meeting with the Oireachtas committee on sport next month”.
The FAI declined to address a number of specific questions from the Irish Examiner yesterday, saying it would not be commenting beyond its statement.
A spokeswoman for the FAI’s auditor Deloitte said the company does not comment on matters related to its clients.
