Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 376: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the percentage of payments made by his Department since 19 May 2009 to suppliers and other contractors which were paid in full within 15 days, within 30 days and longer than 30 days; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32410/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government Decision to reduce the payment period for commercial transactions from 30 to 15 calendar days came into effect from 15 June 2009. The records of payments to suppliers and other contractors made by my Department between 19 May 2009 and 17 September 2009 show that approximately 80% of payments were made within 15 days from the date of receipt of a valid invoice from a supplier, 15% of payments were made between 16 and 30 days while 5% 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 before they can be approved for payment can be quite complex.