Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 232: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the average time, as of the end of April 2009, for payments to be made by his Department and each individual agency of his Department to outside businesses in respect of goods and services received; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20868/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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A review of payments made by my Department during the first four months of 2009, to bodies classified as being outside of the public sector, showed that approximately 84.5% of payments were made within 15 days from the date of receipt of a valid invoice from a supplier, 12.5% of payments were made between 15 and 30 days while just under 3.0% of payments were made after 30 days. My Department seeks to ensure that prompt payment is made to all suppliers while at the same time satisfying the requirement, under the Public Financial Procedures, that invoices are correctly certified as being in order for payment. In a small number of cases, owing to the nature of some of the services supplied to the Department, analysis of invoices can be quite complex.

With regard to agencies under the aegis of my Department the information sought is a matter for each agency and is not collated centrally.