John Delaney offers to step aside from FAI executive vice-president role

John Delaney gave a loan of 100,000 euros to the FAI in 2017

The Football Association of Ireland says that John Delaney has offered to step aside from his role as executive vice-president with immediate effect.

Delaney gave a 100,000 euro loan to the football governing body in April 2017.

The FAI said former chief executive Delaney had offered "voluntarily to step aside pending the completion of an independent investigation into issues of concern to the board".

Honorary secretary Michael Cody and treasurer Eddie Murray have resigned.

Delaney last week told an Irish parliamentary committee examining the FAI's financial and governance arrangements that he had loaned the organisation the 100,000 euros so it could avoid exceeding its overdraft.

The loan was not flagged to Sport Ireland, which oversees the public funding of sporting organisations.

It is suspending funding to the FAI as a result.

The board of the FAI released a statement following their meeting on Monday in which they thanked Cody and Murray for "their long service to Irish football" and "wished them well after their voluntary resignations".

The meeting of the board also mandated a sub-committee, set up to review Governance and recently publicised financial transactions, to press ahead with their work as a matter of urgency.

The board said it wishes to assure members, football supporters and all stakeholders and sponsors that it is "expediting all processes designed to restore faith" in it.

It said it acknowledges "all concerns raised by stakeholders and supporters", adding it is working to ensure that all government funding is restored to Irish football at the earliest opportunity.