The FAI President has said he will be seeking re-election at next week's AGM despite an appeal from the Minister for Sports, Shane Ross, for him to withdraw from the process.



Donal Conway also said the FAI AGM will go ahead next Saturday after delegates at the EGM voted for rules changes following a Governance Review at the association.

Mr Conway said he had made the decision to proceed with re-election based on a pragmatism and "what best serves the current circumstances".



He said the longest he can serve as president is 12 months and he will definitely be stepping down at the end of term of the interim board.



In response to the letter sent by FIFA and UEFA expressing concerns about third party interference in the association, Mr Conway said any intervention by FIFA would be a "disaster" and could cause "shocking damage to the association and football in this country".



He said he hoped this could be prevented by talking to the Department of Sport and the FAI’s governing bodies and that "between all of us we can find a pathway that is not a pathway of conflict but a pathway of co-operation going forward".



Mr Conway said he spoke to the head of Sport Ireland, John Treacey, after this evening's vote and that - while there are other steps that need to be taken - he expects government funding will gradually return to the FAI over the next year.



He also said that he expects that there will be other EGMs and a final raft of rules changes at next year's AGM to fully embed the recommendations of the governance report.