Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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470. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when a person (details supplied), who is awaiting a substantial payment from his Department, with some payments outstanding since 2022, for housing Ukrainian families, receive this payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11174/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department has engaged over 700 properties to provide accommodation for Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection. In line with the Department’s commitment to substantially clear the backlog at the end of 2022, I temporarily re-assigned staff from other parts of the Department in December, doubling the size of the payments unit. The enlarged team approved more than 100 million euros worth of payments.

My Department is prioritising maintaining a practice of more timely payments, including providing more resources to address any issues. Any delays in making payments are deeply regretted and my Department is according this issue very high priority.

I am advised by my officials that the outstanding Invoices for this supplier are being processed as priority. One payment of in respect of Invoice 7/8/9 is expected to issue shortly, pending final checks. I am advised that a technical issue had arisen in respect of an invoice which my officials engaged with the supplier to resolve.

Additional resources have been assigned within my Department and more tasks have been outsourced to accelerate processing. We continue to press on to eliminate the backlog while ensuring appropriate governance is in place to safeguard the proper spending of Exchequer funding.