Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has described John Delaney’s failure to answer questions put to him by members of the Oireachtas Committee of Transport, Tourism and Sport on Wednesday as unsatisfactory and suggested that the FAI will have to satisfy both Sport Ireland and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) before its public funding is restored.

“I don’t think anyone would be satisfied by it,” he told RTÉ Radio. “I think the public, taxpayers, football fans would have liked to see those questions being answered but he [Delaney] was within his legal rights because he is not a public servant and therefore is not accountable to the Oireachtas.

Accountable

“But the FAI is accountable to the ODCE and is accountable to Sport Ireland for the public money they get and I know those bodies will have questions to ask of the FAI which I think will have to be answered, thus allowing us to do what we want to do which is to restore funding to the FAI so the money flows once again to clubs, to young people and to women in sport.”