Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Tim O’Leary said that the severance package that Eddie Downey negotiated with the general secretary made the president’s position very difficult. During the negotiations he, O’Leary, was not aware of the size of the settlement under discussion. He became aware of it afterwards.

“My understanding is that nobody was aware of the deal until it was initially agreed.” He said that the package “wasn’t signed off completely because it needed more than one signature.” It needed wider approval. “I would suspect that the treasurer would have to approve it.” He said that after those negotiations concluded there was no agreement to the deal by anyone else.

He confirmed that the exit package was negotiated between just Eddie Downey and Pat Smith. Eddie Downey would do his best for the organisation, O’Leary said, but, with hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have negotiated on his own with the general secretary. He understood that Downey had legal advice on hand.

He said that the rules under which the exit package was negotiated were drawn up years ago. A review of these and other rules had been underway but was overtaken by events of the past week.

“The nub of it now is that IFA is not agreeing to any severance package.” He added: “There was a signature but it wasn’t enough to tie the deal down completely. The treasurer would have to sign as well and he was not prepared to sign – in fairness.”

Con Lucey's review

The pay of all IFA executives, remuneration from all IFA controlled companies and details of who made agreements with the general secretary would all be up for consideration in Con Lucey’s review of IFA, Tim O’Leary said today. “That was the very clear direction of the Executive Council and the Executive board,” the acting president said. “We didn’t set a limit to Con Lucey’s review. He will decide that. We have taken a step here to be very transparent. We will have a good hard look at ourselves.”

He said: “This is a cathartic moment for the organisation. There will be a big change here.”

O’Leary said he was confident that Lucey would produce clear, coherent proposals. “Lucey will report to the executive council on 15 December and the council will consider his report, make decisions based on these recommendations and then put them in place,” he said.

Asked if the review would be published, he said that it would be made available first to the executive council, which is IFA’s governing body, he said. “They’re the decision making body of the organisation and I won’t prejudge their decision as to what we’ll do with that report afterwards.”

However, he said he was giving a personal commitment that everybody would know about the review and its recommendations. “Furthermore, when we hire a new general secretary for the organisation we’ll publish that salary as well.”

Read more

The IFA now faces into the difficult prospect of an election

Full coverage: Turmoil at the IFA