Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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169. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount paid in late interest payments and penalty payments by his Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021 in respect of late payments being made to suppliers, service providers and contractors in tabular form; and the measures he has put in place and or is implementing to reduce late payment interest and penalty payments. [44001/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A total of €51,531 was paid by my Department in late payment interest and compensation to suppliers in the period 2017 to end August 2021. A total of €75,492,129 was paid to suppliers by the Department in that period. Of that total, some €1,311,704 of payments were subject to late payment interest and compensation. The €51,531 in interest and compensation paid to suppliers is broken down by year in the table below:

A recent late payment review undertaken by the Department’s Internal Audit Unit recommended a number of additional measures which could be taken to strengthen internal controls and provide further guidance to staff on the importance of prompt payment. These recommendations are being implemented.