Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A nominations committee was formed by the FAI to appoint independent directors to the board of the FAI in line with one of the key recommendations of the governance review group report. Sport Ireland was invited by the FAI to nominate two independent persons to the committee. Its nominees were Olive Loughnane and Peter McLoone. Amrop, a world-leading executive-search firm, was appointed as the search partner to assist with the selection of independent directors. The then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, and his Department had no role in the nomination of the committee or the selection of the independent directors.

On 8 January, the FAI announced the appointment of three independent directors to the board. Roy Barrett was appointed as the independent chairperson, Catherine Guy and Liz Joyce as independent directors, while Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, was appointed by the FAI as the fourth independent director on its board on Tuesday, 21 July. That appointment was made by the FAI in accordance with the association's rule book, memorandum and articles of association. Neither the Minister who now has responsibility for sport, nor the former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, nor their Departments had any role in the appointment.

The FAI announced on 4 July that its AGM has been moved to September and that an extraordinary general meeting, EGM, will take place in the near future to vote on the required changes to the FAI rule book and constitution as the association pushes on with governance reform. While the FAI has not yet announced a date for the EGM, Sport Ireland understands it is most likely to be held in the second week of August. Sport Ireland has not paid out any funding to the FAI in 2020 and no Sport Ireland funding is scheduled to be paid in advance of the FAI's EGM.

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