It got lost in the frustration over the Republic of Ireland’s loss to Luxembourg at the weekend but the FAI held an important EGM on Sunday morning which extended the term of office of the current interim board to the end of May, two months beyond what had been originally envisaged.
The new board will then be elected before the summer.
It currently consists of President Gerry McAnaney, Vice President Paul Cooke; six members elected to represent different elements of the sport Martin Hegarty and Dick Shakespears from the National Leagues, John Finnegan and Dave Moran from Amateur Adult football, Ursula Scully from Schools and Joe O’Brien representing other affiliates; and four independent members Roy Barrett who serves as Chair, Catherine Guy, Liz Joyce and Robert Watt.
Watt was the last of the independent directors to be appointed and has subsequently been appointed as Secretary-General of the Department of Health. It is not known given the pressures of that job, whether he will go forward for nomination to the new board.
Much of the amendments to the constitution derive from the Governance Review completed in the wake of the scandals of the past two years and are largely technical in nature.
They include a reordering of certain elements and a restating of the central and secondary purpose of the Association, including, for example, to organise competitions in the Game of Football at national level; to promote principles of integrity, ethics and fair play with a view to preventing methods or practices such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardise the integrity of Members, Players, Officials, matches or competitions or any of them; to promote and strengthen good governance principles and practices at national level, and to encourage Members to adopt their own good governance principles; to promote the development of the Game of Football; and to promote and plan for increased and sustainable diversity and inclusion within the Game of Football, including the full participation of all genders at all levels of football governance.
The constitution of any organisation is effectively the rule book it should operate to and the manifesto it should aspire to.
In simple terms it is the equivalent of the post-it notes that you have stuck to your computer as a reminder of why you do what you do and how it should be done.
All of the changes had been discussed in information sessions across the association in recent weeks and were approved by an overwhelming majority.
One additional restating that perhaps stands out a little more than most is the new clause 11, restating elements that had previously been in place but which allegedly had caused some issues which might yet come before higher authorities.
It relates to the prohibition on payments to members and directors and states that “The income and property of the Association shall be applied solely towards the promotion of its principal objects as set out in this Memorandum. No portion of the Association’s income and property shall be paid or transferred, directly or indirectly, by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise howsoever by way of profit, to the Members. No Director appointed to any office of the Association shall be paid by salary or fees or receive any remuneration or other benefit in money or money’s worth from the Association, provided that nothing shall prevent any payment in good faith and on bona fide commercial terms by the Association of:
11.1.1 reasonable and proper remuneration to any Member, officer or servant of the Association (other than a Director) in return for any services rendered to the Association;
11.1.2 sums to any Director or to any firm or company in which the Director is a partner or a shareholder or an employee, in return for services actually rendered to the Association, provided always that such services are:
(A) not services provided by the Director in the ordinary course of his or her duties to the Association as set out in this Constitution or the Act; and
(B) provided on commercial arm’s length terms and pursuant to a written contract awarded by the Association following the completion of a tender process conducted under the supervision of the Board where the Director in question was not present at meetings when such tenders, contracts and payments were discussed or voted upon;
11.1.3 interest at a rate not exceeding 1% above the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“Euribor”) per annum on money lent by any Director or any Member to the Association;
11.1.4 reasonable and proper rent for premises demised or let by any Director or any Member to the Association;
11.1.5 reasonable and proper out-of-pocket and vouched expenses incurred by any Director in connection with his or her attendance to any matter affecting the Association;
11.1.6 fees, remuneration or other benefit in money or in money’s worth to any company of which a Director may be a member holding not more than one per cent of the issued capital of such company; or
11.1.7 grants to Members to further the objects of the Association properly made under paragraph 4.1.16 of this Memorandum or otherwise in connection with the principal objects of the Association.
There may be nothing particularly new or revolutionary in the outline of the principles above. But there is never any harm in going back to the source from time to time, just to ensure that things are being done right.
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