The debt-ridden Football Association of Ireland has been accused of showing its staff “utter contempt” after it announced it would be making compulsory redundancies.
The FAI, which has around 230 employees, said jobs would have to go as part of “a significant transformation programme to modernise how football is developed and delivered in Ireland”.
It says it plans to launch a voluntary redundancy programme in the coming days, after which it “will then assess progress against its long-term vision and move forward with a phase of redeployment before confirming the number of compulsory redundancies required”.
Earlier this week Ireland’s sports minister was urged to intervene to avoid job cuts. The FAI has debts of around £35m, despite a bailout from the government in 2019.
The FAI’s cost-cutting measures come after it took guidance from external consultants but have sparked outrage from one of Ireland’s leading unions.
“The FAI has shown utter contempt for its staff by outsourcing critical decisions about their futures to faceless consultants while failing to engage in any proper consultation process,” said Siptu services divisional organiser Adrian Kane.
“This is an insult to the workers who have given their all to the organisation and to football in Ireland. The FAI has a duty to be transparent and accountable to its employees, yet it has kept them in the dark while threatening mass redundancies.”
FAI urged to come clean over job losses
The FAI has already shed around 20 employees this year, leaving a number of senior positions – including legal and finance directors, and chief football officer – vacant.
The Republic of Ireland men’s team have not qualified for a major tournament since 2016, although the women did reach the World Cup for the first time in 2023.
Siptu added it was urging FAI chief David Courell to come clean over the number of jobs at risk and the criteria which will be used to make redundancy decisions.
“Our members are disgusted by a statement released by the FAI today in which it refers to necessary ‘skill sets’ within the workforce,” said sector organiser Robert Purfield.
“The question is: what are the necessary skill sets displayed by a CEO who, in recent months, has lost many of his senior management team and now hires unnamed external consultants to draft a plan he has yet to reveal to workers?”