The latest development in the state of affairs regarding the FAI occurred on Wednesday night.

Sport Ireland referred the independent KOSI report into the FAI's governance to An Garda Síochána, having also presented it to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross.

Irish football's govening body then released a statement announcing that they have "yet to receive the final report". But they also added that they "will co-operate fully with any Garda Siochana investigation into" the organisation.

But how is this likely to play out over the next few weeks and months? And also how long could the process take before its conclusion?

The Irish Independent chief football writer Daniel McDonnell joined us on Off The Ball to discuss the developments.

"Now I guess the first hurdle here has veered into the territory of a Gardai inquiry that could take an unspecified period of time," he said.

"Then really the issue you face is that there isn't any closure at all. This just hangs over everything that the FAI does and possibly prevents it doing some of the things they need to do to rebuild and restore trust."

Swift Referral

The timescale for examing and investigating governance issues remains uncertain and could also run for quite some time.

"Just the language yesterday and the swift referral to the Gardai, it just makes you feel that this is going to be a slog, and this is just one aspect of a broad spectrum here," McDonnell contined.

"I think the FAI every time they try to take a step forward, it seems they're knocked two back. And they're not really in control of the process of restoring the reputation. That's the problem.

"Once they're not in control, then they're not going to be able to make any tangible progress."

You can also watch the full chat with Dan above via our YouTube channel.