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JOHN DELANEY HAS told TDs who may want to question him that he would have little to add to what he has already said publicly about FIFA’s controversial €5 million payment to the FAI.
The FAI chief executive has been ringing members of the Oireachtas Transport and Communications committee in recent days, TheJournal.ie has learned.
It comes amid calls for him to appear before the committee in relation to the controversial payment which followed Ireland’s failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup after defeat to France in 2009.
The FAI released a detailed statement about the payment on Friday.
While it’s understood he has not expressed reluctance to appear before the committee if asked, Delaney has told some TDs that he would have little to add to what is already in the public domain.
He has also told some deputies that appearing this week could serve as a distraction ahead of Ireland’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier at the weekend.
The committee is likely to consider whether to call Delaney before it at a meeting in Leinster House tomorrow morning.
But several committee members today questioned whether there would be any merit in Delaney appearing before the committee, including Sinn Féin’s Dessie Ellis and Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley, both of whom spoke to Delaney in recent days.
Ellis said last week that Delaney should come before the committee but today said he now believes it may not be necessary to bring the soccer executive in:
At this moment, unless someone tells me different, I don’t see any point on bringing him in. I am just of that view at the moment.
Dooley said he “remained to be convinced” of the need to bring in the FAI chief and said such a hearing had the potential to become “a show trial”.
“I’m not so sure he can add a whole lot more. What I am interested in seeing is the Minister for Sport coming before us to set out the criteria that the department have to ensure all state funds are appropriately tracked and audited it,” he said.
In conversations that have taken place in recent days, Delaney has told members that he does not believe he has anything more to add to what he has said publicly about the controversy. A committee source said:
He just reiterated what he said publicly and was sort of saying: ‘I’ve nothing more to add.’ He said he was happy to come in but was saying: ‘I don’t have any more to tell you guys.’
Another committee source said Delaney had concerns about the impact such an appearance would have ahead of Ireland’s crucial Euro 2016 game against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
“He had a concern about the match, he didn’t want to be called in before the match,” they said.
Committee chairman, Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony, said this evening that the decision to call Delaney before the committee should not distract from Saturday’s game, indicating any potential appearance would be next week at the earliest.
He insisted that the decision on whether or not to call Delaney before the committee would be a matter for members.
The FAI had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Take your time Leo sure there’s no rush
I’d love a drink a chat, with a few of my friends. I’am not lonely or anything, just a few pints and a laugh with friends.
Course it will need to be reviewed, the backlash over this has been huge and even the FFG back benches realise, they will find it very hard to get re-elected if they basically go along with the same restrictions and rules as last summer when we didn’t have vaccines and nothing bar a 9 euro meal has changed, meanwhile people will head north or out of the country soon as the digital green cert is in place. Hard to convince people who own or work in hospitality, aviation or the entertainment industry to vote for your party that basically has thrown you under the bus for over a year and still is keeping ya there even with vaccines
Meanwhile nearly all open in NI, walking around masks are extremely lax in shops, a lot of people not wearing in stores and nobody seems to care! Feels nearly like 2019!
@kevinhunt101: they are also a few months ahead of us on vaccinations having opened the 18+. We are still at 44+. Give it time.
@Paul Clancy: Give it time???…they are trying to extend the covid powers till November, they are talking about extending PUP till September and the fact they are flip flopping round reopening aviation and hospitality fully, even when we reach the same time line as Northern Ireland did, tells me things won’t be anywhere near the same. Too many need to realise, its not just a virus we now have to worry about, but also the health of the countries finances, cos another recession is the last place we need to go since we haven’t even paid off the previous one yet.
Musicians and other performers should give themselves two rules
a) creating underground spaces for art
b) stop performing whenever a member of the current government is present… even after the pandemic
There is 0 scientific reason behind outlawing live music for more than a year. Maybe you can gaslight people with indoor reasons but there’s no reason why music can’t be played in an outside setting…
So if you’re sitting a a restaurant eating you can’t be there for more than 105 minutes because you could become a close contact. But if you are sitting in a restaurant attached to a hotel you are staying in that risk doesn’t exist? How on earth does that make sense?!
@Melissa OHara: It doesn’t but none of this government’s decisions have made any sense. Their appalling ineptitude keeps rolling on.
@Melissa OHara: it almost makes one hate hotels
Its a Farce.. all Dining indoor and outdoor should open at the same time.. at least its a level playing field.. scrap all time constraints as the virus has no time limit.. and allow live Music.. what harm is it doing.. look at the sport.. hugging and celebrating with each other and no harm there.. Restrictions are pushing everyone to their limits..open the place up.. Save jobs…!!!
He will probably leak it in a few weeks!
what he means is put in mad rules and see what the baclash is
Neck with two heads
It should be reviewed now, not after the summer
He will probably leak in a few weeks!
Genuine Question, Why are Faite Ireland making the rules now when it previously was Government with NPHET advice
@SandraMeyler: my thoughts exactly. WTF do Failte Ireland know about infectious disease
@SandraMeyler: because apparently our government doesn’t know how to do anything
backlash
Oohh. Can’t wait to get me a substantial meal!!!
The elephant in the room is a drunken cohort who can’t or won’t behave like civilised human beings, even if there was never a pandemic. The drinking time limit is really an attempt to limit the amount of alchol a person can consume on the premises, so that some people won’t become unmanageable. However, although ireland apparently has relatively high booze taxes, and some recent token demarcation gestures per buying booze, it is still to cheap and easy to stock up in supermarkets and neighbourhood shops, and then there’s the irony of drink readily available in petrol stations. …. i wonder how covid19 deaths and long-Covid statistics compare to harm by overloaded livers, domestic violence, streetfights, drunk driving, hungover driving etc. etc.
have your say