JOHN DELANEY REFUSED to reveal any details of the “arrangement” between the FAI and Fifa following Thierry Henry’s controversial handball.
It had previously been reported that the FAI received a €5 million payment following the incident which saw Ireland miss out on a place at the 2010 World Cup.
In 2014 the Irish Sun said that the windfall “was initially provided as a loan before being converted into a grant” and was designed “to get the FAI off [Sepp Blatter's] back.”
“There was a legal case we had against Fifa at the time,” CEO Delaney said on RTÉ Radio 1 on Friday morning.
There was an arrangement that was come to but it certainly wasn’t bestowing patronage to us.
“That is confidential for the moment but what I will say is that at no stage have we ever voted in favour of Blatter. We have been consistent in that and I have as well.”
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Delaney’s comments came as delegates prepare to re-elect Blatter for a fifth presidential term amid ongoing criminal investigations into world football’s governing body.
The FAI has publicly declared its support for his only challenger, Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan.
- Originally posted at 14.14, updated at 15.00.