{"id":31707,"date":"2025-09-19T22:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T22:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/31707\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T22:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T22:54:07","slug":"fai-decline-to-attend-oireachtas-hearing-without-assurances-around-garda-investigation-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/31707\/","title":{"rendered":"FAI decline to attend Oireachtas hearing without \u2018assurances\u2019 around Garda investigation \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Football Association of Ireland<\/a> (FAI) has declined a second invitation to appear before the joint Oireachtas sport committee, citing concerns that questions from politicians could prejudice an ongoing investigation by An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The FAI were due before the committee chaired by former Labour leader Alan Kelly next Wednesday in Leinster House. <\/p>\n

The main topic on the agenda was to be the FAI\u2019s safeguarding policies and procedures. <\/p>\n

A deferment was agreed last July to allow the association \u201cadequate preparation time, given the complexity introduced by the committee seeking material that relates directly to an ongoing Garda investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The FAI now claim they were denied requested assurances from the Oireachtas committee that its members would avoid asking about the ongoing investigation into alleged abuse by a male coach of female players in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deeply worrying that the FAI have this afternoon withdrawn from this scheduled appearance at our committee,\u201d said Mr Kelly. \u201cThe letter the committee received from the FAI does not in any way explain why they have chosen to take this course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the FAI correspondence, there is a constant reference to the \u2018stated position\u2019 of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na in relation to some FAI-related issues being investigated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not a matter for the committee. The operation of an Oireachtas committee isn\u2019t a matter for An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na either.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Oireachtas committee would ever operate if a precedent was set by the manner in which the FAI have used such Garda correspondence in its refusal to attend the Oireachtas committee. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee will have to correspond with the Minister for Sport in relation to all these matters given that the taxpayer, through the Government, ultimately funds the FAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another factor in the FAI decision to decline the invitation came after the committee sought the attendance of three extra FAI employees – the former Republic of Ireland women\u2019s head coach Eileen Gleeson<\/a>, communications manager Gareth Maher and the head of child welfare and safeguarding, Kirsten Pakes. <\/p>\n

The latest invitations indicate the committee\u2019s intention to mention the ongoing Garda investigation, an FAI spokesperson said to The Irish Times. <\/p>\n

Ms Gleeson is currently taking legal action against the FAI on the grounds of gender discrimination. <\/p>\n

The FAI have also withheld documents requested by the committee, apparently out of concern that providing them could hinder the Garda investigation. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the FAI are suggesting is alarming as they have called into question our integrity as a committee,\u201d said Senator Evanne N\u00ed Chuilinn. \u201cWe gave assurances that we would not discuss individual cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also alarming that not only have the FAI declined additional witnesses from attending, they have withdrawn from the process entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July 2024, garda\u00ed opened an investigation into a male football coach following allegations published in a joint investigation by the Sunday Independent and RT\u00c9 into alleged abuse of female players. <\/p>\n

The FAI does not intend to appear before the committee until the Garda investigation is concluded. <\/p>\n

The association\u2019s chief executive David Courell, chair of the board Tony Keohane, president Paul Cooke and the FAI\u2019s head of people and culture, Aoife Rafferty, had been expected to attend next week.<\/p>\n

Instead, the committee will write to Minister for Sport Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> to discuss the actions of a sporting body that is seeking an additional \u20ac8 million in the 2026 budget to fund professional club academies. <\/p>\n

. <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has declined a second invitation to appear before the joint Oireachtas sport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8938,16335,16336,13446,42,43,12636,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-31707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alan-kelly","9":"tag-david-courell","10":"tag-eileen-gleeson","11":"tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-oireachtas","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}