Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am ad idemwith almost everything the Deputy has said. We hope that the FAI will co-operate but there is no sign of full co-operation yet. We want a completely new chapter. We will reduce the risk of things like examinership and liquidation and it is right that the Deputy has raised those issues. We will reduce the risk of that immediately through independent directors coming in and that will mean more confidence in the FAI from the stakeholders including UEFA, the banks, the FAI itself and ourselves. We might be considering changing the name of the organisation but whatever it will be called, we are looking for the moment that door is unlocked. We might have a real opportunity to do the sorts of things the Deputy is talking about, specifically with the League of Ireland. This could be a chance for something radical and some real reform could come out of this. We are staring into a chasm but there are opportunities to correct something that has been going wrong for many years and respond to the things the Deputy is talking about, particularly with regard to the League of Ireland. We will have an entirely new group of people involved who are not captured by the prejudices and loyalties of the past. I hope we will have an opportunity in the coming days and weeks to get a strong chief executive in place because that is vital. We need a strong group of independents who will turn their backs on the past. We need a strong new chairman and we can set the example from the top. That is not the solution but it is part thereof, as everyone here recognises.

The principal problem has been diabolical corporate governance and if we can sort that out, we will soon sort out the confidence issue. We will be able to move on to the details thereafter, some of which are not our business, although the Deputy has addressed them, and many of which are symptoms of the things that are going wrong. Our ambition and determination is to get those particular parts in place shortly and we can then address the issues about which Deputy is talking.

There are sensitivities about us getting too involved which we will not breach. Government policy and confidence are important factors. We will have confidence if we see steps to reform that are radical enough to satisfy the requirements of corporate governance and begin to set in train an improvement in the finances.

I agree with everything the Deputy said. We are meeting SIPTU this evening as a matter of urgency in order to hear more of the sorts of things the Deputy is saying because they are important to us. We recognise the suffering that has been inflicted on people but we also recognise their importance as stakeholders and the contributions they will make to the FAI, or whatever the organisation might be called, in the future.