GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS will cut the time they take to pay their suppliers to 15 days from 30, Taoiseach Brian Cowen pledged yesterday.
Mr Cowen said that, in an initiative to boost cashflow to companies which provide the Government with goods and services, its departments will introduce, “on an administrative basis, a commitment to reduce the payment period from 30 to 15 days”.
He added that by the end of April, it will also assess the impact of extending this commitment to local authorities and the health and education services.
Mr Cowen was speaking at the annual Small Business Awards, run by the Small Firms’ Association (SFA). Before introducing the Taoiseach at the awards ceremony, SFA chairman Aidan O’Boyle said the length of time that public bodies take to pay their suppliers is an issue.
“If the public sector could pay its small business suppliers within 10 days, the impact that that would have would be enormous,” he said.
The Taoiseach said that the Government intends to introduce other measures aimed at making life easier for business. Local authorities will be required to establish business support units to ensure a “quick, co-ordinated response” when they are dealing with local government.
Mayo-based Connemara Seafoods won the overall SFA National Small Business Award and the food and drink category.
Other winners were: manufacturing, Ecocem (Dublin); services, Surecom NS (Tipperary); outstanding small business, Home Instead Senior Care (Dublin); best HR development, Kevin Dempsey Distributors (Dublin); innovator of the year, Megazyme International (Wicklow); environmental sustainability, Java Republic (Dublin).
Five companies were chosen in the emerging category: ETIC Solutions (Donegal); Print Delicious (Wicklow); Chic Commodities (Dublin); Engineering Documentation (Sligo); and Gael Energy (Carlow).
