FAI Board Welcomes Ursula Scully & Laura Finnegan O'Halloran

Ursula Scully and Laura Finnegan O'Halloran have been voted to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) Board of Directors, in an effort to increase female diversity and enhance leadership. Their selections, approved at a General Assembly meeting on February 10, 2024, raise the total number of directors to 14, with 43% female participation, exceeding the government's gender balance standards.

Last December, the General Assembly agreed to enlarge the Board to include two more female directors, and Ursula and Laura joined Catherine Guy, Liz Joyce, Niamh O'Mahony, and Maeve McMahon.

Ursula Scully, who returns to the FAI Board after serving from 2019 to 2021, provides substantial experience as the secretary of the North Tipperary Schoolchildren's Football League and a Munster FA committee member. She has been chosen as a Football Director on the Board.

Laura Finnegan O'Halloran, a noted football development researcher and Lecturer in Sport Management and Talent Development at SETU Waterford, has been chosen as an Independent Director.

FAI Chair Tony Keohane congratulated the new members, saying, "I have no doubt that they will be fantastic additions to what is now a highly-skilled Board who are passionate about helping to continue developing Irish football at all levels."

Paul Cooke, President of the FAI, thanked the General Assembly for ratifying the selections and emphasized the necessity of satisfying government mandates for female participation on the Board.