Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will meet with a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11300/11]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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In 2010, the European Commission published a communication entitled: Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe [Document Ref: COM (2010) 712 Final]. This communication sets out a number of actions to encourage the mass adoption of electronic invoicing. One such action is that eInvoicing be promoted at a national level and the National Procurement Service (NPS) in the Office of Public Works has been tasked with the establishment of a national multi-stakeholder eInvoicing forum for Ireland. The objectives of the Forum will be to promote eInvoicing at a national level and in particular:

To advocate the use of e-invoicing, in particular by SMEs

To co-ordinate existing and forthcoming initiatives to promote the uptake of eInvoicing and

To monitor and set targets for the adoption of eInvoicing.

The Forum will hold its inaugural meeting at the end of this month and will report to a central European eInvoicing Forum on progress over the next three years. It is hoped that through the establishment of this Forum, eInvoicing will become the norm in all payments transactions.

A list of the organisations that have been invited to propose nominations to the Forum is as follows:

Department of Agriculture, Marine and Food

Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation

Department of Finance

Department of Justice and Equality

Enterprise Ireland

Health Services Executive

Higher Education Authority

Irish Business and Employers Confederation (and the Irish Software

Association)

Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association

Local Government Computer Services Board

National Procurement Service

National Standards Authority of Ireland

Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General

Office of the Revenue Commissioners

Small Firms Association

Following its initial meeting, it is envisaged that the Forum will hold open meetings for interested parties to attend, such as eInvoicing operators, user groups and software suppliers. This will allow all the key stakeholders an opportunity to express their views. The company for which the details have been supplied to me should seek to participate in one of these open meetings. I suggest that this is the most appropriate method of progressing their proposals.

In addition to the establishment of the Forum by the NPS, the National Standards Authority of Ireland is also active at a European level in relation to the establishment of European standards in the area of eInvoicing.