The department says the report will not be published at this time. (File)

The department says the report will not be published at this time. (File)

MINISTER FOR SPORT Shane Ross has said the independent report into the FAI has been referred to An Garda Síochána.

The report was commissioned by Sport Ireland in May of this year and sought to assess the FAI’s expenditure of all Sport Ireland funding and its fitness to handle public funds.

In a statement this evening, the department said the report has been delivered to the minister and that Sport Ireland has passed it to gardaí.

“The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, has received the Final Report of the Independent Audit of the FAI, conducted by KOSI Corporation Ltd, on behalf of Sport Ireland. The minister said that Sport Ireland has today referred the report to An Garda Síochána,” the statement said.

The minister will not be a position to publish the report or make any comment on its findings at this time.

The audit team compiling the report consisted of a group of senior auditors and a forensic accountant.

Serious questions over finances at the FAI were raised in March of this year when the Sunday Times reported that former CEO John Delaney gave the organisation a loan of €100,000 in 2017.

The following month, Sport Ireland decided to suspend and withhold future funding to the FAI.