FAI leadership and accountability
Senator Andrews congratulates Irish boxing champions but criticises the FAI’s management and lack of leadership ahead of its appearance before the sports committee; the Chair urges balanced public discussion.
I congratulate Aoife and Lisa O'Rourke on delivering two golds for Ireland in the European elite championships. It was a great achievement. My colleague must be delighted. It must be like winning the all-Ireland again.
The FAI will come before the sports committee tomorrow. If the Ireland-Israel pre-match press conference is anything to go by, the FAI CEO is likely to have Heimir Hallgrímsson in answering any difficult questions for him. From first to last, FAI senior management has shown zero leadership. From the time the draw was made, the CEO of the FAI said the sanctions would be severe. It now transpires that the FAI does not actually know what the sanctions are; Paul Cooke said he did not know what the sanctions were. This is deliberate and misleading confusion. Irish football does not want the Irish team to play Israel. The FAI leadership has ignored Irish football to appease the Government. Any sort of leadership would have made sure that it was not on the players. Leadership is Gavin Bazunu, who was brave and outspoken. It is to his huge credit that he was not willing to play Israel. Others should follow. I do not know how the CEO and chairman can stay on in their positions. They facilitated sportswashing by genocidal Israel and threw the players under the bus.
The Government has also shown zero leadership. On Saturday, Barry Ward stated that the Government would have supported the FAI in respect of penalties if it had refused to play Israel. It would have been a good idea if the Government and Barry Ward had told the FAI that in advance of the match. That is another example of the confusion and lack of leadership. The Government was elected to lead. Shamefully, the Government and FAI put it on the 20-odd Irish players to decide whether to play. The FAI has presided over a shambles and its position is no longer tenable. The Minister for sport needs to come to the House and explain the consequences of not playing Israel next week. It is the least the Irish public deserve. The Irish football family deserve to know what the penalties were because nobody seems to know. It is a tightly kept secret. A debate would be helpful.
