Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
1266. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when a hotel (details supplied) can expect to be paid for services it has provided to the State in terms of accommodating Ukrainian refugees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17650/23]
View answerMy 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 has recently issued to this provider in respect of the oldest outstanding invoice. Another invoice has been processed and subject to final checks, payment is expected to issue in the coming weeks. With regards to the remaining outstanding invoice, my officials will be engaging with the supplier to ensure that it can be processed for payment as a priority.
The delay in payment was 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.
