Senior civil servant Robert Watt appointed to the board of the FAI

Senior civil servant Robert Watt has been appointed to the board of the FAI. He becomes the fourth independent director of the association, filling a vacancy that had essentially been left open for him since his name first came into the frame in recent times.

Watt is the secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, one of the most senior positions within the public service here and was a member of the negotiating team that represented Ireland in talks about Brexit and the emergency borrowing that was required in the immediate aftermath of the financial crash.

He was previously an assistant secretary at the Department of Finance, a director with Indecon Economic Consultants and a part-time lecturer at Trinity College Dublin. He joins fellow independents Roy Barrett, Catherine Guy and Liz Joyce on the board after his appointment was ratified by this week's meeting of the association's current directors.

In a statement, Barrett, the association’s independent chair, said that Watt, who coaches underage teams at Drumcondra FC “brings a wealth of financial and governance experience to the board”.