Mr. William Walsh:

As a public sector body we are required to make payments within 30 days of receiving an invoice and we do so without any issue. The number of penalties we have to pay in that regard are minuscule in our overall budget and they are rare cases. When we get a final invoice on account we pay it within the 30 days that is required of us as a public body. As a body that deals with builders, contractors and staged payments, there is a little bit of nuance that Dr. Byrne and Ms O'Brien have touched on but we pay contractors. Suppliers like working with us because we pay on time as agreed in the contract arrangements.