Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 116: To ask the Taoiseach the average time for payment to be made by his Department and by each agency affiliated to his 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 he will make a statement on the matter. [17383/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The average number of days taken by my Department to process payments to outside contractors for each year from 2004 to date in 2008 (end of April) is detailed in the table below.

This information is based on payments made in respect of Departmental expenditure and, in addition, payments processed on behalf of the following bodies which are funded from the Department's Vote: National Forum on Europe, Ireland Newfoundland Partnership, Active Citizenship Office, Tribunal of Inquiry (Moriarty) and National Economic and Social Development Office (up to the end of December 2006).

In relation to the Law Reform Commission and the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) (from January 2007), I can confirm that both agencies process all payments to outside contractors within a 10 day period.

In relation to the Central Statistics Office, it is their policy to settle all invoices promptly with due regard to contractual terms, where applicable, to good financial and cash management practices and the provisions of the Prompt Payments Act, 1997 as amended by the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations, 2002. In addition to compliance with the terms of the above legislation, there is an obligation on the CSO to take advantage of the available credit terms. The Office's Financial Management System monitors compliance with late payment legislation but it is not possible to extract average times for payment that are made within the thirty day deadline.