Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 67: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the fact that a number of Government Departments are falling well short of meeting the targets set by her that suppliers would be paid within 15 days of the receipt of an invoice; the steps she will take to ensure greater compliance with the target set; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11374/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with the Government Decision of 19 May 2009 all central Government Departments are required to pay their business suppliers within 15 days of receipt of a valid invoice. These Departments are also required to report quarterly to my Department on their performance in meeting this target. The first returns by Departments covered the period 15 June to 30 September 2009 and were published by me on 30 December 2009. The second returns for the last quarter of 2009 were published by me on 5 March 2010. The tables attached provide the relevant information for both quarters.

It will be apparent from the tables that the value of payments made by central Government Departments within 15 days accounts for 97.9% of the overall value of payments made. These returns for the period 1 October to 31 December show:

A total of 68,528 payments were made by Departments in the above period amounting to €1.634bn;

56,542 payments totalling approximately €1.599bn were paid within 15 days. These payments represent 82.5% of total number of payments made by Departments, an increase of over 3% on revised Quarter 3 returns. In value terms 97.9% were paid within 15 days compared with 97.8% for revised quarter 3 figures;

A further 8,682 or 12.7% were made between 16 and 30 days;

Overall in value terms, 99.7% of payments during the period, amounting to €1.629bn, were paid within 30 days.

While there continued to be some variation between the performances of individual Departments, in respect of the number of invoices , 7 Departments were paying in excess of 90% of invoices within 15 days (compared with 5 in the previous quarter), a further 6 Departments were paying in excess of 80% of invoices within 15 days (compared with 7 in the previous quarter), while the remaining 2 had paid 47% and 66% of their invoices within 15 days;

in respect of the number of invoices, 13 Departments had paid between 96% and 100% of their invoices within 30 days while the remaining 2 had paid 78% and 87% of their invoices within 30 days.

Departments are continuing to make strong efforts to pay their suppliers within 15 days and are playing their respective parts in assisting the cash flow of their suppliers, many of whom are Small and Medium Enterprises. The new procedures and processes introduced are having an impact in assisting Irish SMEs cash flow in the current difficult economic environment and this development must be welcomed. It is the responsibility of each Department to meet its obligations under the terms of the Government Decision. Businesses that experience difficulties in receiving payment on foot of valid invoices within 15 days should contact the contracting Department to resolve their difficulties.