THE chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, John Delaney is to receive a "substantially" smaller salary after moving to a new role in the association.
The FAI announced the change on Saturday, shortly after the Irish team had opened their qualification campaign for the Euro 2020 tournament with a patchy 1-0 win away to group minnows Gibraltar.
Delaney, who was chief executive for 14 years, will take up the newly created position of Executive Vice President, with responsibility for all UEFA and FIFA issues, including the proposed joint British-Irish bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
In a fresh statement yesterday, the FAI has declined to put a figure on Mr Delaney's salary in his new role, but has said it will be "substantially less" than the estimated €360,000 a year he previously received as CEO.
He also earns around €160,000 as an elected member of the UEFA executive committee.
In a statement the FAI said it had made the decision based on an independent review of its governance structures, carried out by Jonathan Hall, a former senior figure in the English FA, which recommended that oversight functions should be split.
It came a week after it was revealed that in 2017 Mr Delaney provided a €100,000 bridging loan to his employer "to aid a very short-term cash flow issue", money which was repaid within weeks.
However, last week the Irish government wrote to the FAI asking for further details about the loan, with government body Sport Ireland saying it "was not notified at any stage in 2017 about any apparent material deterioration in the FAI's financial position".
Rea Walshe, who is currently the chief operating officer at the FAI, will fill in as interim CEO until the recruitment process for Mr Delaney's replacement is completed.
It is expected that the new CEO will be officially unveiled at the FAI AGM in July.
