Mr. John Treacy:

It is dated 2 April 2019. It states:

Dear Mr. Treacy,

Thank you for your letter of 25 March 2019. I apologise for the delay in responding to your letter.

I note the concerns expressed by the Minister Ross with regards to media reports and your wish for clarification as to the circumstances of the short-term loan by the then chief executive to the association.

The association has engaged Mazars to carry out an independent review of all matters in this regard. When that review is complete I will write to you in more detail in relation to the circumstances involved, as requested. In the meantime the association will be happy to meet with you or your officials to review the association's financial records in relation to the use of State funding.

The terms and conditions of grant approval require us to satisfy certain conditions. I can confirm my understanding that the association has utilised all State funding in compliance with the terms and conditions of grant approval.

As you are aware from our statement of March 30 2019, the association has engaged with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and its dealings with their inquiries. The association has established a committee, which I am chairing, to work with our external advisers to urgently address the matter of concern.

Yours sincerely,

Donal Conway,

President of the FAI.

We will be writing to the FAI probably in the next day or so. We will be expressing our disappointment, particularly at the timing of the letter which was received yesterday evening and then hand delivered this morning. We will be raising the context of the letter, which falls far short of what was expected from both requests by Sport Ireland. The letter does not provide any explanation on the circumstances surrounding the loan and it repayment. The board of the FAI has not provided any legitimate reason it cannot provide the information requested. In the absence of information, we cannot make any adjudication on whether the terms and conditions of grant approval have been complied with. We still await an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the loan and its repayment. We will ask for the terms of reference of Mazars' review and an assurance that we will be consulted as part of it and that the full final report will be provided on a timely basis to Sport Ireland. We will ask for that.We have asked for a response by close of business on Monday next.

I will continue now with my opening statement.