Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2023
436. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth whether a hotel (details supplied) will be paid for providing accommodation during the past eight months and which is only being paid for one of those months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9578/23]
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 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 the Department is according this issue very high priority.
I am advised by my officials that this Supplier has received four payments to date – the last one being on 19th of January, 2023 (Invoice 8172).
The outstanding invoices for the company mentioned in the Details Supplied are currently being prioritised for payment. A definite date cannot be supplied as yet, as a number of checks are underway, including queries on a number of these invoices submitted by one of the parties.
The outstanding Invoices being prioritised are numbers 8117, 8171, 8187 and 8208.
