Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the current interest penalty payable by statutory bodies under section 10 of the Prompt Payments of Accounts Act 1997; and the value of penalties imposed for each year since 2007. [6139/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department promotes improved payment practices and monitors the operation of the Prompt Payment of Accounts Act, 1997, and the Late Payment in Commercial Transactions Regulations 2002. The European Communities (Late Payment in Commerial Transations) Regulations 2002 (SI No. 388 of 2002) repealed section 10 of the Prompt Payments of Accounts Act 1997. The rate of late payment interest is now payable under Regulation 4 of this legislation.

The current penalty interest rate is the European Central Bank main refinancing rate plus 7 percentage points. The ECB rates in force on 1 January and 1 July apply for the following six months in each year. Only one rate will apply to a late payment - that is the rate in force on the payment date. From the 1st January, 2013, the late payment interest rate is 7.75% per annum (that is based on the ECB rate of 0.75% plus the margin of 7%). That rate equates to a daily rate of 0.021%. Penalty interest due for late payments should be calculated on a daily basis.

As stated above, the issue of late payment is covered by the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 388 of 2002). Ireland must transpose the Recast of the Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU) which repeals and modernises the old rules. I signed the Statutory Instrument transposing Directive 2011/7/EU on 22 December 2012 and this will come into effect on 16 March 2013.

Details of Late Payment interest paid by my Department and the Agencies under its remit are listed below. My Department does not have responsibility for collecting information on late payment interest paid by other Departments and the statutory bodies under their remit. The Deputy should contact the Government Departments directly in this regard. As the Deputy is aware, it is a Government requirement that all central Government Departments, the local authorities and all other public sector bodies, (excluding commercial Semi-State bodies) pay their suppliers within 15 calendar days of receipt of a valid invoice. The latest set of quarterly composite figures published by my Department show that 98% of payments made by Government Departments, valued at €1.25bn, were paid to suppliers within 15 days.

All Government Departments and Agencies are required to publish information in relation to the payment of late payment interest in their annual report.

Note*1 In the time available since this Question was tabled my Department has not been able to collect the extensive volume of information requested by the Deputy in respect of the 35 City and County Enterprise Boards. Once the available information is collated I will arrange for it to be forwarded to the Deputy.