Prisons could close following breakdown of talks

SOME prisons may be closed following the breakdown of talks last night between the Prison Service and the Prison Officers’ Association on the abolition of overtime which stands at €60 million per annum.

The talks’ facilitators said the rate of progress on the overtime bill was insufficient to bring the process to a successful conclusion.

“We were in a situation where had the full wish list of the Prison Officers’ Association been met we would, in my view, have had a more expensive prison system than that which currently obtains,” Prison Service director Sean Aylward said.

He will be reporting to the Minister for Justice and the prison authority on the impasse and the options to be considered.

Privatisation of prison services and the closure of some jails will be considered by the Department of Justice.

Prison management proposed to cut the number of overtime hours worked from 2.1 million to one million hours a year, through the introduction of an annualised hours package and new work systems.

This proposal would have seen officers paid flat-rate amounts for working up to 330 overtime hours a year, regardless of how many extra hours they actually worked.

In an improved offer last month, prison officers were asked to work up to 360 hours of overtime per year at a rate of 1.8 times their regular hourly rate, resulting in officers on the top end of the pay scale being paid around €10,300 in overtime per year.

In most recent demands, the prison officers have sought payments 1.85 times their flat rate, or €10,800 annually. They also want a pensions contribution to be paid on a large portion of the sum and want to be paid for their breaks.