30th January 2013
Mr. John Perry, T.D. Minister for Small Business, today (Wednesday) published the latest set of quarterly composite figures, which show that Government Departments and the Agencies under the auspices of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation continue to comply with the Government requirement to pay business suppliers within 15 days of receiving a valid invoice.
The 2012 Quarter 4 figures show that Government Departments made a total of 62,013 payments in Quarter 4 amounting to €1.28bn.
Welcoming the continuing high levels of payments by all Government Departments and the Agencies under the aegis of his Department Minister Perry said: “Any disruption to cash flow, particularly for small businesses, can mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy. Therefore, it is vitally important, that small businesses continue to be paid on time.
“Of the 62,013 payments made in this quarter, a total of 49,604 payments valued at €1.25bn were paid within 15 days. This represents 98% in value terms of payments made by Departments, an increase of 5% over the previous quarterly figures. This clearly demonstrates the Government’s commitment to be an exemplar in terms of prompt payment in Ireland.
“However, the issue of late payment is not just an Irish problem, it is a European-wide problem. To combat this issue, the Commission has adopted Directive 2011/7/EU, known as the Late Payment Directive on 16February, 2011. The proposed legislation will act as a deterrent to late payment and a driver for payment on time by establishing a clear expectation in law that payment will be made according to agreed terms that creditors will not be penalised financially when paid late and debtors will not benefit. This Directive came into force on 15 March, 2012 and must be transposed into Irish Law by 16 March, 2013.
“Both myself and Minister Bruton recently spoke at a seminar hosted by the Commission in Dublin to raise awareness of the issue of late payments in Europe and Ireland. This seminar was part of a pan-European information campaign, focused on ensuring key Irish stakeholders, SMEs and business leaders learnt of the current legal framework of the Late Payments Directive, an understanding of its applications and benefits, as well as practical examples of how best to implement them to support their businesses.
“My Department will build on the success of this seminar by developing a national information campaign to promote prompt payments in 2013. In addition, we are assisting business representative bodies to develop a Prompt Payments Code of Conduct. Initiatives such as this will improve compliance with the legislation in place and assist the transition to a culture of prompt payment in Ireland.
Minister Perry concluded. “I believe the combination of the 15 day prompt payment rule, together with the implementation of the Late Payment Directive, represents significant progress on the issue of prompt payments in Ireland and thereby contributes significantly to the competitiveness of enterprises and employment and growth”.
Returns, for Quarter 4 2012, are available at:
Prompt Payment Returns by Government Departments 2012 (Quarter 4)
Prompt Payment Returns by Agencies of DJEI 2012 (Quarter 4)
Key Findings of Quarter 4 (October-December) 2012 Returns
(a) Government Departments
These returns are the 14th set of returns by Government Departments.
A total of 62,013 payments were made in Quarter 4 2012 amounting to €1.28bn.
• Of these, a total of 49,604 payments totalling €1.256bn were paid within 15 days. These payments represent 80% of the total number of payments made by Departments;
• In value terms, 98% were paid within 15 days;
• 10 Departments were paying between 90% and 100% of invoices by value within 15 days;
• The remaining 6 Departments were paying in excess of 83% of invoices by value within 15 days;
• All Departments paid in excess of 97% of invoices by value within 30 days.
• 59,827 payments were made within 30 days by Departments in the above period amounting to €1.277bn.
(b) Agencies under the auspices of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
These are the 6th set of returns by the 13 Agencies under the auspices of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in accordance with the new arrangement of extending the 15 day prompt payment requirement to the wider public service.
• A total of 22,794 payments were made in Quarter 4 by the Agencies amounting to €57.4m.
• 21,254 payments totalling €53.9m were paid within 15 days;
• In value terms, 94% of invoices were paid within 15 days;
• A further 1,349 payments or 6% were made between 16 and 30 days;
• 10 Agencies were paying in excess of 93% of invoices by value within 15 days;
• The remaining 3 Agencies were paying between 70% and 85% of invoices by value within 15 days; and
• 10 Agencies paid 100% of invoices by value within 30 days.
• The remaining Agencies paid between 93% and 99% of invoices by value within 30 days.
For further information please contact:
Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 01-6312200. Press.office@djei.ie
ENDS
Back to Department News