Prison officers to discuss final offer

PRISON officers meet this morning to set out a schedule for discussion of a last-chance offer from Justice Minister Michael McDowell to avoid strike action.

The minister wants an answer from the Prison Officers Association (POA) this day week and is threatening to start privatising services normally provided by prison officers within 21 days if the response is not positive.

A meeting of the POA administrative council will take place this morning and a full meeting of the National Executive is expected to follow midweek. The executive will decide whether to put the proposals to a national ballot.

Mr McDowell is willing to put his outsourcing plans on hold if the association tell him next Monday they are pursuing a ballot of their 3,200 members.

If the executive decide the proposals are not worth putting to the membership, the minister is to put the prison escort service out to contract by the end of the month.

If this happens, prison officers will move towards industrial action. The army and Gardaí have been receiving training in recent months to prepare them for taking over the running of the country’s prisons in the event of a walk-out.

POA general secretary John Clinton was not optimistic that the minister’s latest peace proposals would pass the executive because of what he called Mr McDowell’s “unrealistic ultimatum.”

The long-running dispute centres on the growing overtime bill for prison officers which currently runs at over €60 million per year.

Mr McDowell is determined to at least halve that figure and has put forward proposals for reorganising rosters and pay increases to tackle the problem.