Mr. John Delaney:

I thank members for their questions and I will try to deal with them in as detailed a way as I can in the order in which they were asked. We are one of the most inclusive organisations in the country and our approach to the game is that everybody has the right to play, irrespective of ability, disability, colour, creed or sex. Getting kids away from PlayStations and on to playing fields is our ethos. It is a pyramid structure from grassroots. If one is building a house, one builds a foundation first and the chimney is at the top. The chimney for us is international football but we cannot have a chimney without a very strong foundation. Inclusivity is what we are all about and anybody working closely with us or who knows us sees that at first hand.

We operate to the highest standards with regard to the concussion issue. We have a medical committee, including Dr. Alan Byrne, who works with the international team. He has spoken before committees here about concussion and how we deal with those matters. We deal with them to the highest professional standard. We are quite emotive about special needs. We have 24 clubs and Football for All is one of our strongest programmes. There are kids with cerebral palsy, the amputee team, the homeless team and blind supports. We give international caps for people who play the sport under the auspices of the Football for All programme. We are very strong in allowing every kid the right to play, irrespective of their ability or disability. There are 24 clubs in Ireland formed specifically for the Football for All programmes, including special needs.

We dealt with winning at all costs under the player development plan. The ethos and thinking behind the removal of win at all costs, particularly at the key younger level, is to give every kid the ability to love the ball. They are taught to pass it and not kick it long, which was the approach when I was growing up. There is the rolling on and off of substitutes so every kid can play and we do not keep competitive tables until the age of 12, which is something we feel strongly about. It is outlined in our player development plan, which was introduced recently under our technical director, Mr. Ruud Dokter. Effectively, this allows kids to enjoy playing football. It gets competitive later in life but when they are younger, they should really enjoy the experience and learn not to be afraid to make a mistake with a football.

With regard to mental health, our Kickstart 2 Recovery programme helps with addiction issues. Coach education is very important for mental health if we give people a role in life. We have 32,000 or 33,000 people who are coaching and it gives people status. We work very hard at coach education, which provides good training, and we run many programmes through our development officers all over the country on mental health. I have spoken as a guest at many functions on suicide prevention. I feel very strongly about that as it is a scourge on our society. Everybody in this room, and not just sporting bodies, could do more.

With regard to child protection matters, I refer the committee to our statements of 25 November and 1 December last year. We take these matters really seriously, given the events in the UK. We have a child welfare officer and committee. We operate to the highest standards that sports bodies would be on these matters. Every parent, including me, would want their kids to be safe. Members spoke about social aspects and we run some tremendous programmes. We have the midnight soccer league, working with different agencies, including local authorities and the Garda Síochána, identifying children at risk. In the areas where we play these games at night, crime has dropped tangibly. In Ballymun the rate has dropped by 60% or 70%. There are approximately 30 or 40 of these programmes being run all over the country and if we had more funding, we would run more of them. We have given a snapshot of what is being done in the community and that programme identifies kids at risk. It is about working in true partnership and not ticking boxes. We work with the Garda Síochána, local authorities, football clubs and different agencies to achieve real results.

Gender quotas have been mentioned by most members. The Women's Football Association of Ireland ran women's football in Ireland until recently. It was responsible for the development of the game. It is a bit like Mr. Duffy's comments about GAA counterparts. I will read what the chairperson of the WFAI, Ms Niamh O'Donoghue, wrote in the strategic plan. She states "We are fortunate indeed that the FAI believes in the future of women's football and has clearly demonstrated its commitment to the development of the game." That is her quote and not mine. We took over the running of women's football and developed eight regional committees which report to a national committee within the FAI. That national committee is responsible for the development of women's football in this country. Within the next 12 months, the chairperson of that women's committee will become a member of the board of the FAI. We have appointed women to very senior positions in the association and our target is to get to 25,000 registered players by 2021. When I started as chief executive officer, there were approximately 8,000 registered women players. We have played 50-odd international matches, as I outlined, and we are very strong in the development of women's football. It is okay for me to say it but I refer the committee to Ms O'Donoghue's quote. If one studies our organisation, one can see our actions. Approximately a year ago we took over women's football, established a women's national committee with eight regional committees beneath it and within the next 12 months the chairperson of the committee will come to our board.

There was mention of FIFA increasing the number of teams in the World Cup to 48. Many years ago I addressed a UEFA congress - I think it was 2007 - about increasing the number of teams from 16 to 24. Along with many colleagues, I spoke about increasing the number of teams. I am a big follower of hurling and if Kilkenny play Tipperary, they do not have to play the French champions. The rugby world cup is easier to qualify for than the FIFA equivalent, although Mr. Browne might disagree. For countries like us, such as Norway, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Iceland, it is difficult to get to major tournaments. It is important that we do in order to celebrate with our great supporters and do well for a sense of national pride. I brought the proposal to a UEFA congress and I won by 48 votes to five on the day. It has proved a big success to go from 16 teams to 24 in that competition. It did not affect the quality of the competition and most of the narrative on the European Championships has been very strong.

In theory the FAI is supportive of increasing the number of teams to 48. There will be meetings at UEFA next Monday and Tuesday under the top executive programme to see how it affects UEFA. Currently, there are 13 European teams at a World Cup.

How many extra slots would that mean for UEFA? I would support any opportunity that gives Ireland a greater opportunity to get to a World Cup, in theory or in principle.

When the FAI took over the running of the League of Ireland, the collective losses of the clubs were €7 million. I am a big League of Ireland supporter and my father was chairman of Waterford United Football Club. I was secretary when they won the cup in 1980. As a young boy I travelled to League of Ireland matches every Sunday even though we lived in Tipperary. Richie Hall and Al Finucane, who lived in Limerick, came to our house and every Sunday we went to Kilcohan Park or another stadium around the country. The League of Ireland is in my DNA and it is a big part of what we want to improve in this country.

We took over clubs with a collective loss of €7 million and they are now at about break-even and there will be a profit this year because Dundalk has had such a great year. It has been difficult because we have had to impose club licensing on many of them. There are great people in the clubs, as well as great supporters, but we are trying to drill them down in order that they are not just senior clubs. We created an under 19 national league and an under 17 national league while an under 15 national league starts this August. This will give pathways to players in Cork, Waterford, Sligo, Dundalk and Drogheda to play for all these levels and then progress to the highest level.

We formed a marketing group with the clubs to market the league better. I had a meeting last Monday morning with Michael Cush, who has been appointed by the clubs and club members. We are seeing how we can collectively improve and a report was produced just before Christmas.

The improvement of facilities is crucial to everything we do with clubs. Deputy Munster asked me about going from a premier league and first division of 12 and eight teams, respectively, to ten and ten in the year after this season. This was based on the recommendations in the Conroy report, an independent report done a year or so ago. We asked the clubs for their opinions and recently they informed us, through Michael Cush, a barrister, that they would prefer to go to ten and ten. Based on that, the FAI accepted that three teams would go down and one would go up in the coming season. There will never be a unanimous view on what a structure should be and Páraic Duffy will tell members the same as regards hurling and Gaelic football. We got the report from Declan Conroy and then asked the clubs for their position and they voted, in the majority, to make it ten and ten.

More than 180 employees work for the organisation. During the more difficult times there were pay cuts, like everywhere else, which we are now restoring. The staff in the FAI love what they do because they are being paid to be involved in association football and that is a privilege for them. We have very good staff who work day in and day out, particularly the development officers in every part of the country. It is very difficult to get players to stay because of the money they are offered when they go abroad. Séamus Coleman played for Sligo Rovers but he obviously gets a greater salary and a greater profile at Everton, and that is the nature of Irish soccer. For many years players have been developed in Ireland and then go to the UK to play and get paid at a higher level. Our aim is to keep the players for longer in order that they do not go at such a young age. An under 15, under 17 and under 19 national league will help enormously in keeping the players and will give them a good education before they go. Daryl Horgan made his full debut for Preston last weekend and played very well, and ultimately the best players in world football will go to play against the best, at club, county or international level.

Deputy O'Mahony made the observation that is it not just about prize money; it is about what we do for clubs. We were significantly involved in saving Dalymount Park, getting a certain amount of the debt written down and getting Dublin City Council to buy it. Now we are looking to the Government to fund its redevelopment. Turner's Cross would be the same. It is an excellent stadium now, with 7,000 seats, and the Belarus game was held there recently. The FAI has invested a lot of money in that and the same is true of Eamonn Deacy Park. We took the Wexford Youths ground out of receivership and saved it for football and we made a strong financial contribution to the regional sports centre in Waterford. We need, from the committee and the broader Government and Chamber, to have more investment in the infrastructure of the League of Ireland, because with better facilities there is a greater chance of getting people into the grounds.

On the question of my role on the board of the FAI, it is written in the rulebook that the CEO is a board member and that was recommended by the Genesis report many years ago, to which Deputy Murphy referred. We met Alistair Gray of Genesis subsequent to the implementation of the report and he said they were more than satisfied with what we had done. The report was issued and we went through an implementation process. As a young honorary treasurer we went around the country trying to reduce our board from 23 members to ten as well as making other changes. Genesis gave us a health check and was more than satisfied by what we had done. The FAI currently has a governance group chaired by a woman and an outside person to look constantly at governance within the organisation. There was a rule change recently. There is an age limit of 75 on the board but a member re-elected before the rule change can stay beyond that. Our board is changing and a new member will be elected in Abbotstown today. We will have a new president and vice president next year and we will have an additional woman on our board in the next 12 months.

The €5 million fee was a contentious matter and a committee here decided, a year or two ago when Senator O'Mahony was Chairman, that it would not be discussed in this House. All the money was properly accounted for and signed off by our auditors. A sum of €1 million was given initially and €4 million was given a later year. We issued a detailed statement at the time.

We were all disappointed with how events turned out in FIFA but I would not describe Sepp Blatter as a good friend of mine. We voted for the new president, Gianni Infantino, who is bringing in some reforms at the moment and I am hopeful more reforms will come. We also support Aleksander eferin, the Slovenian president, for president of UEFA, and on Monday and Tuesday next week we will get updates on how reforms are progressing in UEFA. The brand of FIFA was very much damaged by events and they will continue to unfold over the next period as certain cases take place.

Our AGM was a huge success. Deputy Troy commented on it and Senator O'Mahony was present in Mayo. There was no negativity from the League of Ireland at the AGM in Tipperary last year and we came to an agreement during the week on giving it an allowance towards developing strategic plans. We visit a county extensively and give out in excess of €100,000 in grants, bringing people like Martin O'Neill, Ray Houghton and current footballers like Keith Andrews with us. It is a remarkable success and something that is very close to me. In my time I have visited 2,200 clubs throughout the country, and last Saturday I was at Achill Rovers on Achill Island. I am booked out every weekend. Supporting grassroots clubs is key to what we do and the AGM is a great snapshot of that. Deputy Troy spoke about women's participation on the board and I have dealt with that. I have dealt with the women's national teams committee and with the Genesis report. As I outlined in my opening remarks, only 6% of our overall turnover in the year gone by was State funded, so we got €2.7 million while our turnover was €46 million.

I am sure Mr Browne and Mr Duffy would agree that we would like it to be illegal to sell tickets at above face value, but that would depend on Government legislation. All the sporting bodies can do is distribute tickets as best we can through our supporters clubs and affiliates, and if it is brought to our attention that anybody is profiting, we will deal with it severely. I urge Government to bring in legislation to make it illegal in this country because once that happens, it will help us greatly.

Senator Feighan brought up the case of Daniel Kearns, but that was many years ago.

We have a very good relationship with the Irish Football Association. Its president, David Martin, is a good president and is someone with whom we would have a very good relationship. Ultimately, my view and that of the association is that it is the player's choice. If James McClean wants to play for the Republic of Ireland, it is his choice, but if he wants to play for the Northern Ireland football association, the Irish Football Association, we are not going to interfere. To my mind and that of the association, it should always be down to the player. The player should pick the national association he or she wishes to play for.

I support the Deputy's view regarding the fans' embassy. Naturally, our supporters were fantastic in France. They got the award from the mayor of Paris and a UEFA award as well. They are probably the best ambassadors this country will ever have and we are very supportive of anything that would help that. We have a supporters' club network that represents 2,000 season ticket holders. I meet them regularly and will do so in the next week or so. We take on board any issues they bring to our attention and we try to work with them as closely as possible.

In response to Deputy Griffin, we welcome the fact that sports capital grants were brought back over recent years. They are the lifeblood of grassroots clubs. As I travel extensively through the country, I want to help more. The national associations have a very good overview of where the money can be best spent and should continue to have more involvement in the allocation of sports capital grants because, ultimately, we would know through our strategies where best to spend the money, be it Mounthawk Park in Kerry, Glanmire in Cork or Dalymount Park. I could give the committee many more examples. We would like more of an involvement but we appreciate the programme, which is a great programme.

In respect of the behaviour of a minority of supporters at League of Ireland matches, the vast majority of League of Ireland supporters are very good football people. We have noticed that a small minority have engaged in what I would call unacceptable behaviour, particularly in the past year. Workshops are being held with the League of Ireland clubs under the direction of our head of security, Joe McGlue. We treat these matter seriously, as do the clubs, and we are working with clubs to ensure the behaviour of fans at League of Ireland matches creates a family environment. I reiterate that most League of Ireland supporters are great supporters of football. It is only a small minority.