Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I have raised directly with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, in recent weeks and before Christmas the issue of hotel providers not receiving payment for a number of months for hosting Ukrainians. It has come to my attention again this week that a number of hotel providers in County Clare have not received payment from the Department since September or October. These people are owed tens of thousands of euro for the provision of accommodation and food. The problem is that the providers have to purchase the food on a weekly basis and at least one of them and possibly two are now at the pin of their collars financially. Companies are beginning to refuse to supply them with product simply because the providers are not in a financial position to pay their bills.

There is something seriously wrong with a situation whereby the Government is not paying its bills and people are being put under enormous pressure and stress to keep feeding and supporting the Ukrainian people being housed here on an emergency basis. They are doing so free of charge at present because they are not receiving the payments they are due. It is reprehensible that the Department and the Government would leave people hanging on a string waiting to receive payment. If there are issues in terms of reconciliation, what is wrong with paying 80% or 90% of what is owed, with the balance to be straightened out in future or deducted from future invoices?

There is something seriously wrong when the Government allows business owners to swing in the air and expects them to feed, house and turn on the electricity and heating for the Ukrainian people who are in Ireland. What is wrong with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that it cannot pay 300 to 400 suppliers in an efficient manner? There are companies in this country dealing with thousands of suppliers on a weekly basis, and doing so efficiently. Given the size of the Civil Service and the competencies that are within it, surely to God this matter can be resolved.I ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in here, as a matter of urgency, to explain what the hell is going on in his Department such that businesses in the west of Ireland and all over the rest of the country are left swinging, waiting for their money.