Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 280: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the average time for payment to be made by her Department and by each agency affiliated to her Department to outside contractors for goods and services employed for each of the years 2004 to 2007 and to date in 2008 in tabular readable form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17376/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department makes in excess of 9,000 payments each year. Due to the volume of transactions in question, it is not feasible to provide the information sought in the level of detail requested by the Deputy.

However, the Deputy may wish to note that my Department is subject to the provisions of the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations, 2002. Under these Regulations, payment of invoices must be made within 30 days of receipt of the invoice or the delivery of goods or services, whichever is later, unless otherwise specified in a contract. The supplier is entitled to penalty interest if payment is not made within the 30 day period, provided the invoice is not subject to query. The total amount paid out in interest by my Department since 2004 in accordance with the Regulations is set out on the following table.

All public bodies, including the agencies under the remit of my Department, are subject to the provisions of the Late Payment in Commercial Transactions Regulations. However, my Department does not have any function in relation to the operation or the detail of the agencies' accounting systems.