Former Republic of Ireland international Niall Quinn has said he was embarrassed by the FAI’s response to politicians’ questions at an Oireachtas committee meeting yesterday.
Former CEO John Delaney refused to take questions over his time in charge of the organisation, or the €100,000 bridging loan, as it was revealed the payment was not reported to the board for almost two years.
State funding has been suspended by Sport Ireland, who provide the association with approximately €2.9m per year.
“To stonewall it legally was hugely disappointing,” said Quinn on Virgin Media Sport.
“I’m very disappointed and I’ll go as far as to say, I had 92 caps for the country and today for the first time in my life I was truly embarrassed of my association.
“This is as low a point as I can remember. I felt really uncomfortable watching that.”
Former national team manager Brian Kerr said he also felt embarrassed by the FAI’s response.
“The FAI had the opportunity today to be open, transparent, humble, and truthful,” he said.
“There seemed to be an intent to give as little information away as possible, to hide behind the various reports. The public wanted to see transparency.
“Those people today were an embarrassment to football. They showed the reason why there should be change.”