The Sport Ireland audit of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has found it spent €69,000 on a 50th birthday party for John Delaney, its chief executive at the time. Delaney repaid about €50,000 soon afterwards, sources familiar with the report have confirmed.

The remaining cost of the party, which was hosted in the Mount Juliet golf club, Co Kilkenny, in October 2017, was considered a football-related expense as it involved hosting a delegation from Uefa, the European governing authority for football, including Aleksander Ceferin, its president.

Sport Ireland has referred the audit carried out by Kosi, a Northern Irish accountancy firm, to gardai. The report examines payments by the FAI to Susan Keegan, Delaney’s ex-girlfriend, and the use of FAI credit cards. Other issues