Minister for Sport Shane Ross has said the details of any severance payment made by the FAI to its former chief executive John Delaney should be made public as part of the process of restoring funding to the association.

Mr Ross told RTÉ News that the Government wanted to know the extent of any financial agreement made with Mr Delaney.

In announcing Mr Delaney's departure as executive vice president last night, the FAI said that it would "fulfill certain notice and pension obligations".

Mr Ross said he also wanted to know if Government funds were used for this purpose, saying that the public needed to be confident that "large sums were not being paid unnecessarily".

"I think it's absurd after all the controversy that we shouldn't know exactly what the pay-off is," Mr Ross said.

Mr Ross welcomed the resignation of the former CEO and executive vice president, but said the FAI still required root and branch governance reforms and that he wanted to see the "old regime renewed in its entirety".

He said: "It’s not good enough to chop off one head and save the rest of them. We've got to see root and branch reform."



The minister said he was awaiting the three reports that have been commissioned into the financial affairs of the FAI, the first of which is expected to be published in just over a week’s time.

He said the Government would have to see what these reports say before they consider any restoration of funding to the association, saying a "very dark shadow still looms" over the FAI.

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