Delaney’s own goal has FAI defending the indefensible

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

Political reporting has its high points – but there are also days when it seems to have all the pace of a five-day cricket test…in slow motion. Like last week, when the Football Association of Ireland came in to answer questions about all the things that are not going right with the organisation, including a mystery €100,000 loan from John Delaney, his new position as executive vice president and generally poor governance.

Or not to answer the questions, as it happened.

It was a farce. Delaney read out a statement that shone a tiny bit of light on the €100,000 bridging loan he gave the Association in April 2017.

But then he went all shy and refused to answer any questions good bad or indifferent about the hundred grand or his time as the FAI chief executive.

The answering was mainly left to the FAI president Dónal Conway. It was a classic hospital pass. Over eight hours he managed to convey as much information as you would get from a Trappist monk on retreat.

The backstory does not take all that much explaining. Back in April 2017 Delaney wrote a cheque for €100,000 as a ‘precautionary measure’ for the Association. According to his own statement, the FAI had a cash-flow crisis at the time and was coming perilously close to its overdraft limit of €1.5 million.

Lo and behold, a few days later, a demand from a creditor came in for an immediate payment. The cheque was cashed – and two months later, in June 2017, Delaney was paid back the full amount, with no interest or extras.

And that was that.

Or not – because it still leaves a pile of questions prompted by the hundred grand. The FAI narrative was it failed to qualify for the World Cup and that had an impact on revenues. But, still and all, the organisation had a surplus of over €2 million for the year.

Indeed the FAI had never breached its overdraft limit with the bank – so it’s hard to imagine a simple request to the bank for a temporary extension of the overdraft limit would not have been granted.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.