FAI criticised for missing Oireachtas committee meeting on safeguarding

Detailed summary

Committee chairman Alan Kelly questioned the association’s absence as Sport Ireland faced scrutiny over its oversight of safeguarding in Irish sport ...

Heimir Hallgrímsson and his players emerged for their training session at Abbotstown on a brisk Wednesday morning to the clang of hammers, as a couple of workers assembled a high tarpaulin fence running along the length of the training pitch. Having spoken last month of needing to staunch an information leak, it seems the Icelander is going to great lengths to divert prying eyes.

Just over an hour later, beneath the soft and warm lights of Leinster House, Oireachtas sport committee members took it in turns to bemoan the fact they couldn’t see Hallgrímsson’s employers.

The subject of the meeting was safeguarding at the FAI. Present: representatives from Sport Ireland, the Department of Sport and An Garda Síochána. Missing: anyone from the FAI.

“This is like a wedding without the bride and groom,” said Brian Brennan TD, calling the FAI’s absence “disgusting” and saying the committee were being treated like a “rag doll”. Daniel Ennis TD said the FAI’s absence was “damning”; Senator Alison Comyn wondered whether the FAI felt “above the law” and drew a parallel with social media company X, which refused to show up to answer the same committee’s questions on online safety earlier this year.

The committee has been asking questions about safeguarding practices and standards at the FAI since the Girls in Green documentary, a joint RTÉ and Sunday Independent investigation that exposed historical allegations of inappropriate behaviour to female players by male coaches in Irish soccer.

A follow-up meeting on the subject with the FAI was held on September 30th, which fell right in the middle of the extraordinarily contentious games against Israel. With those games dominating proceedings, the FAI were invited back to talk again after the fog of Israel had cleared. The fixed date was Wednesday, but the FAI wrote to say they couldn’t attend as they are too busy with international matches.

[ FAI reduced debt by almost €4m last year, AGM hearsOpens in new window ]

This is why the committee…

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