FAI expected to vote in favour of gender-balanced board

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Football Association of Ireland will take place today in Dublin.

Delegates are expected to vote in favour of increasing the number of female directors on the board in order to satisfy government requirements on gender balance.

The memorandum of understanding signed in 2020 between the FAI and the Government required the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to have at least 40% female representation on its board by the end of this year. The Government had warned the FAI that there would be serious consequences if that target wasn’t met.

Ahead of today's AGM, the FAI will hold an EGM to ratify proposals to have two additional female directors with the number of directors increasing from 12 to 14, six of whom would be female.

This move had caused controversy within football with regard to the number of independent and football directors on the board.

FAI CEO Jonathan Hill is expected to address questions regarding payments he received for holidays and travel which led to an investigation and state funding being temporarily suspended.

President Gerry McAnaney steps down after almost four years in office and the election of a new president is a straight contest between current vice president Paul Cooke and Joe O’Brien.

Roy Barrett will be replaced as independent chairman by Tony Keohane from Cork and a number of other directors will also have to be ratified.