THE FAI’S CHIEF Operating Officer Rea Walshe is to depart her role in December, the Association have announced. 

She is leaving to establish her own consultancy business next year. 

Walshe first joined the FAI in 2014 as legal manager and was promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer in February, 2019. She was due to first assume the position in April of that year. 

Before that could happen, however, Walshe was given the role of interim Chief Executive when John Delaney suddenly assumed the newly-created position of Executive Vice-President following the contentious Jonathan Hall report of March 2019. 

She retained the position of interim CEO when Delaney was placed on gardening leave, and finally assumed the Chief Operating Officer job when Noel Mooney arrived on a six-month secondment from Uefa as General Manager. 

Walshe was retained in her role when a subsequent interim CEO, Gary Owens, overhauled the FAI’s executive structures, and has lately been working alongside Owens’ permanent successor, Jonathan Hill. 

“I want to take this opportunity to thank Rea for her dedication to Irish football over the last seven years and to wish her well when she establishes her consultancy in 2022″, said Hill today. 

“Throughout her time with the association and across her various roles, including a spell as Interim CEO, Rea’s contribution has been significant.

“I would like to wish Rea and her family well and join our Board and my colleagues in wishing her the best of luck in her next career step.”