Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 May 2023
353. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on outstanding payments to an accommodation centre for Ukrainian refugees (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20468/23]
View answerMy Department is prioritising maintaining a practice of more timely payments, including providing more resources to address any issues, and outsourcing of elements of the process to speed up processing and respond to supplier calls. Any delays in making payments are deeply regretted and my Department is according this issue very high priority.
One of the outstanding invoices referred to in the Details Supplied has been processed for payment and a payment is expected to issue in the coming weeks pending final checks. My officials are engaging with the provider in order to ensure that all outstanding invoices will be compliant with my Department’s requirements for payment.
My Department will continue to press on to eliminate the payments backlog while ensuring appropriate governance is in place to safeguard the proper spending of Exchequer funding.
