Shane Ross, the sports minister, received match tickets for the 2017 Europa League final in Stockholm after texting John Delaney, the FAI chief executive at the time. Delaney also provided hundreds of free Ireland match tickets to a club in Ross’s constituency, and credited the minister for securing them.

The FAI supplied Ross with two match tickets for the 2017 Europa League final, in which Manchester United beat Ajax 2-0 in the Friends Arena, in what was Wayne Rooney’s last game for the English club. Ross, who supports Manchester United, is understood to have paid for the tickets by cheque. He attended the game on May 24, 2017 in a private capacity.

Ross became a critic of the FAI’s corporate governance failings after a Sunday