The secretary of the Sligo-Leitrim & District Soccer League, Noel Kennedy, has called on the CEO of the FAI, Jonathan Hill “to go” in an email he sent last week to his football counterparts across the country.
Mr Kennedy, who is also vice-Chair of the Connacht Football Association, told The Sunday Independent that he stands over the email.
Hill has been facing calls to resign as chief executive of the Association on the back of his breach of an executive pay cap that led to the suspension of €6.8m in state funding.
Last Friday, the Department of Sport said it had given permission for the money to be paid out after it satisfied itself that the FAI had “embedded” controls on executive pay arising from a Sport Ireland audit that found the FAI were in breach of term 35 of its 2020 memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government.
The breach required Mr Hill to make repayments of some €20,000 after he was paid around €12,000 in lieu of holidays he had not taken, even though the FAI staff handbook said such payments are not allowed.
He has also had to make payments of €8,500 in relation to benefits-in-kind received for travel expenses from his home in England to Ireland.
“This is a sackable offence,” Kenny told The Sunday Independent. “It should have resulted in instant dismissal. All bridges have been burned. The vast majority of right-thinking people in Irish football believe it is time for him to go.
"The current CEO from England is a big problem. I don’t know why he came in as he has never moved permanently to Ireland.”
Mr Hill was the first permanent replacement to John Delaney as FAI chief executive when he was appointed in November 2020.
He has infuriated some in Irish football by refusing to live in Ireland, but Mr Barrett defended this while he was chairman.
Mr Kennedy was an strong supporter of John Delaney’s and believes he did a “great job for the grassroots”. He said Mr Hill failed to “do anything for grassroots football in Ireland” and instead focused support on League of Ireland.
“League of Ireland football, which I’ve the greatest respect for, has a very small number of people involved, compared to amateur and underage football,” said Kennedy.
“As far as Hill is concerned, it seems football starts at League of Ireland and goes up to the international teams. But we have 162,000 members at grassroots level.”
Jonathan Hill is due to appear before an Oireachtas Sport Committee hearing on December 13th.
