After last month claiming that he was reconsidering his position as voluntary OCI executive committee member on behalf of the FAI, John Delaney has tonight informed the board that he will be stepping down from his role.
Delaney informed acting president Willie O'Brien of his decision at 6pm this evening via email according to Independent.ie, and has since issued a statement outlining his reasons for doing so.
The statement was issued on the FAI website this evening:
Having given the matter careful consideration, I have made the decision to step down as the FAI's volunteer member of the 13 person OCI committee board, with immediate effect.
The reasons for my decision are as follows:
1: My Role as CEO of the FAI is my primary role and priority. I have always been 100% committed to fulfilling my role, my obligations and duties in ensuring the growth and development of football in Ireland, which I will continue to do.
2: As an Executive Committee member of the OCI, my role was never active in the day to day running of the OCI and as I mentioned previously, I was in a position to attend only 5 of the last 13 board meetings prior to the RIO Olympics.
3: I had no role or involvement in the OCI's handling of ticketing arrangements for the RIO Olympic Games.
4: During my time as a member of the OCI Executive Committee I have always looked to the best interests of the Olympic movement, and in recent months I have worked extensively with the other OCI Committee members to ensure that all proper steps have been taken by the OCI, following the issues that arose in RIO. As part of this, I have fully engaged and co-operated with investigations being carried out by Grant Thornton who were appointed to review ticketing arrangements and Deloitte, whose brief is to examine governance issues within the OCI. I will, of course, also provide all assistance sought by Mr. Justice Carroll Moran as part of the Government appointed enquiry.
I am fully confident that in due course my position and non-involvement in these matters will be clarified and independently verified on completion of reports carried out by Grant Thornton or Justice Carroll Moran.
I wish the OCI executive and the Olympic movement, in this country, all the best into the future and I will always follow with interest their sporting achievements.
John Delaney
CEO
Delaney is outlining his role with OCI in an effort to distance himself from the ticketing scandal with further investigations to come later.
We'll bring you, our Football Family brothers and sisters, more on the investigation as it develops.
