Mr. Donal Conway:

I thank the Chairman and members for the invitation to address the committee. Included in my presentation are details of those who are accompanying me. I will not read them out because the Chairman has already done so.

Originally, we were to appear in respect of governance issues, strategies and challenges facing Irish soccer and related matters.

While the focus may have changed due to events, we remain in a position to discuss any other matter relating to public funds received by the association and their application. We need to be mindful of our legal obligations and the remit of the committee and to respect the privacy and data protection rights of our employees and related parties.

Grant Thornton has been engaged by the board of the FAI to conduct an internal review of the association's books, records and ledgers. It has been on site at the FAI since yesterday week. I will reference it further in my statement.

The committee also asked for the attendance of the person filling the position of corporate affairs and licensing director. John Delaney has been appointed executive vice president. This is in order to utilise his skills and connections at UEFA and FIFA levels effectively. In the view of the board, this will be to the benefit of Irish football. In his place, Rea Walshe has been appointed interim chief executive officer. The board thanks her for stepping up to this role at short notice and at a difficult time. There has been no full-time person appointed to Ms Walshe's former role as yet. If I recall correctly, the committee had asked for that person to be present, but we have not made the appointment yet.

I wish to put on the record that no disrespect was intended to the committee or Sport Ireland by the FAI's letter of last week. Sport Ireland has been and is an important stakeholder for us. Its financial support and advice to us over 20 years have been unstinting and we were honoured to become the first national governing body to move onto the Abbotstown campus. We have much to do to rebuild trust and confidence in the association and we are committed to achieving this as a board.

The association notes the comments made last week by the committee and Sport Ireland and acknowledges their concerns. The board of the FAI met on Wednesday in a scheduled meeting. The board regretted that it was not in a position to assist Sport Ireland with answers to its questions before Sport Ireland attended the committee. We have since met Sport Ireland and continue to engage with it. We have emphasised to it that we are moving as fast as we can, being mindful of the complexity of the issues involved, including legal issues and the need to ensure that all statements we make are accurate and our internal and external processes are fair and robust. No disrespect was intended by the lateness of the letter of 2 April to Sport Ireland or its brief contents. I apologise for this and accept that more information would have assisted Sport Ireland and the committee.

The board is seeking to address the concerns raised fully and many steps are being taken to do so and to establish the requisite detail for Sport Ireland and the committee. The association has established a sub-committee from among its board members. This is working closely with the FAI's external advisers and auditors to address these matters urgently.

Regarding governance, members will be aware that the FAI has a governance group, which has assisted us in making some changes in compliance with the governance code. A number of policies and procedures were improved in 2018, including a code of conduct for board members, a schedule of reserved functions, a volunteers policy and a conflict of interest form. New Government guidelines on terms for board members apply from 2021. The association held an EGM this year where it voted to limit board members to eight years' service in line with the Government's governance code for community, voluntary and charitable organisations. On 7 February, the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, said-----