Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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913. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 470 of 7 March 2023, when a person (details supplied) who is awaiting a substantial payment from his Department for housing Ukrainian families will receive this payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12744/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department has engaged over 750 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 a payment to the business in question relating to November, December and January is issuing this week. I am further advised that my officials have engaged with this Supplier in relation to Invoice No. 11 and this will be processed shortly.

The delay in payment is due to the large volume of invoices being received by my Department. Additional resources have been assigned within my Department, in addition to outsourcing of some tasks to accelerate processing. The volume of payments issuing is steadily growing. My Department will continue to press on to eliminate the backlog while ensuring appropriate governance is in place to safeguard the proper spending of Exchequer funding.