The FAI has announced that it is parting company with the public relations firm, Conroy and O'Rourke, that has represented it in the majority of its dealings with the media during the last 20 months.

The association's chief executive, Fran Rooney, who had been closely advised by the company's leading figures, Declan Conroy and Trevor O'Rourke, during his first year in the post, said yesterday that the company had played an important part in the reorganisation that has taken place within Merrion Square in the aftermath of the Genesis report. Rooney said they had "contributed significantly to a more professional FAI and have been very much a part of the team that championed the reform process".

The break is said to have been the result of a decision on the company's side that it needed to concentrate on other clients and business opportunities after a period in which the FAI had taken up a growing amount of time. "In one way it will be hard to walk away," said O'Rourke, who has also been centrally involved in the renegotiation of many of the association's commercial contracts during the past year, "but we felt the time is right for us to move on to other things." Pat Costello, who has just joined the association as Director of Corporate Affairs, after working with the Special Olympics and South Dublin County Council in recent times, will take on the association's media brief for the immediate future, it was announced yesterday while it was also confirmed that Tadhg O'Halloran has taken on a full time role as head of the association's business operations.