Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

If the average is 80%, then some Departments should pull their socks up and get their act together. However, the record is positive and is even acknowledged to be so by Deputy Willie Penrose. The object is to widen the 15-day requirement to the wider public service in which 30-day and 45-day averages seem to be the order of the day.

It is, however, easy to bash public service organisations. According to ISME, the average time it takes a private sector business to pay its bills is 90 days. In fairness to the public sector, it is performing and paying its bills on time.

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