Members of the council will convene in Dublin on 21 March and they have been advised that the agenda for the meeting will the same as that originally planned for 7 March, when many participants were snowed in or busy fixing collapsed sheds.

There was no provision for Downey to speak then and there isn't now. However, I understand the association and its former president are still talking about the possibility, after Downey made the request publicly at the Meath IFA AGM on 26 February.

Legal lid

He wants to address the council on the pay scandal that led to his resignation in 2015. Now that the IFA and its former secretary general Pat Smith have settled their court case over the whole saga, a legal lid is on anyone speaking publicly about those events.

But Downey has said that he wants to tell the national council his version of events privately “so that at least one person in every county will know exactly what happened”.

Should the IFA agree to hear Downey, there are still a few days left to add an item to the agenda – or make use of the any other business section.

Read more

Timeline: the IFA, Pat Smith and everything in between