THE FAI HAVE confirmed that Ursula Scully and Laura Finnegan O’Halloran have been ratified to join the expanded 14-person board at a meeting of the association’s General Assembly today.

It means that the FAI have exceeded the 40% gender balance requirement laid out by the Government as part of the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding during the bailout of 2020.

The appointments ensure that a minimum of €4.35 million in grants are protected.

Scully, the secretary of the North Tipperary Schoolchildren’s Football League and a committee member with the Munster FA, returns to the board as a football director following a two-year spell from 2019 to 2021.

O’Halloran, a researcher into football development and lecturer in Sport Management and Talent Development in SETU Waterford, was elected as an independent director.

“Last December, the General Assembly voted in favour of expanding the Board to add two more female Directors with Ursula and Laura now joining Catherine Guy, Liz Joyce, Niamh O’Mahony and Maeve McMahon on the Board,” a FAI statement read.

“The appointments are hugely significant in securing Government funding but also in showing leadership in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion to encourage more women to be involved in football in key positions.”