I am issuing this statement following the publication of a story in the Sunday Tribune which has obviously been generated by people seeking yet again to undermine me as Chief Executive of the FAI.
Unfortunately for those people, who are well known by people within the FAI and the media, they have badly miscalculated this attempt to vilify me.
Neutral observers reading this story and who are familiar with the saga of Eircom Park will recognise a pattern of attacks on me over the last year and know that other agendas are clearly at work - none of which have anything to do with caring for Irish football.
I have at all times refused to be dragged into this type of personal vilification. I have stuck to arguing factually and logically about Eircom Park in the belief that I can convince people that way. The campaign against me has a simple theme - throw as much muck as you can and hope that some of it sticks. This campaign, orchestrated by some members of the FAI, and helped by people at other levels, is aimed at collapsing the Eircom project at any cost.
In relation to the content of the article, the facts are these:
When I became CEO in October 1996 there was a pre-existing system for usage of credit-cards whereby a form was circulated at the end of every month which requested users to split usage between business and private. Users were requested to forward payment for private usage to the Financial Accounts Dept. I used this system for almost four years. I had no part in regulating or overseeing this system which was left to the Finance Dept. At no time in almost four years did any query arise in relation to my usage of the card or amounts outstanding. In March 2000 in order to be up-to-date prior to the Association's financial yearend, I asked the Financial Accountant to verify any personal balance outstanding and I cleared that amount in total and he issued a letter to me confirming same.
In June 2000, while I was out of the country, the Hon Treasurer undertook an examination of credit card accounts. On my return in July, the Treasurer met with me and the President on the issue. The Treasurer stated that he thought my personal usage was too high and he recommended a new system which completely banned all personal usage by everybody in the FAI. I told him that I had no difficulty with that policy and personal usage desisted immediately for all holders of FAI credit cards.
The Treasurer further stated that in examining my credit card accounts he had identified a handful of items, over a period of two years, which he asked me to reexamine to ascertain if they had been properly designated as private or business. In the following days I identified administrative errors where items should have been marked personal and I paid these amounts immediately. These items totalled £1,230 and related to three hotel bills.
Therefore, around the end of July 2000 the issue had been addressed, the new system had been accepted and there was no further contact on the matter.
Every penny spent by me was spent within an authorised system and was settled in full by me on various occasions over a four-year period. When some inadvertent miscalculations were brought to my attention, these were rectified immediately.
It is recognised within the FAI that I run a rigorous and disciplined administration in FAI headquarters. Any suggestion otherwise, directly or indirectly, is completely without foundation.
I have no doubt that any Committee within the FAI will view this issue as simply the latest attempt to undermine my position at any cost. It is with regret that I have had to issue this statement to yet again explain myself in circumstances which have been manufactured to create maximum embarrassment for me and the FAI.
This campaign to derail Eircom Park will continue. People within the FAI and around Irish football should not give in to these vicious tactics.
I do not intend to make any further comment on this article.
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