My Department is prioritising making more timely payments of valid invoices, including providing more resources to address any issues, and outsourcing of elements of the process to speed up processing and to respond to supplier calls.
With regard to the service provider referred to, I am advised by my officials that one payment was made to this provider on 11 May. Two remaining invoices are currently being processed with payment expected to issue in the coming fortnight subject to final checks.
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.