Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 March 2023
173. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will urgently intervene to ensure that payments owed to a company (details supplied) in respect of accommodating Ukrainian refugees are made. [11653/23]
View answerMy 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 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, including outsourcing more tasks to improve turnaround times. 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.
I am advised by my officials that the outstanding invoices for this supplier are being processed as a matter of priority, with payment expected to issue within two weeks, pending final checks.
