Closure of prisons ‘will cost State in long run’

Michael Brennan

The changes were introduced by Justice Minister Michael McDowell after prison officers voted against accepting a new pay deal.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said the closure of the Curragh Prison in Kildare and Spike Island in Cork would lead to short-term savings but long-term costs.

"The short-term option is not always the cheapest option. This serious reduction in prison spaces will inevitably lead to increased overcrowding, worsening of conditions within the remaining prisons and the return of the revolving door syndrome," said president Gabriel Keaveney.

At the POA's annual conference in Castlebar, he said the closure of the two prisons was a devastating blow to the prison officers serving there.

"This type of despicable and shameful treatment of our members must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. This is industrial relations Progressive Democrat-style," he said.

Mr McDowell, who is not attending the conference, has said the POA were told what the consequences of rejection of the pay deal would be.

He is also planning to privatise the prison escort service and to hand the running of the remaining open prisons Loughan House in Co Cavan and Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow to an independent agency. However, Mr Keaveney said prison officers were the only staff qualified to operate the prisons.

"The safety of staff, the safety of the inmates, and indeed the safety of the local people living in close proximity to an open centre, and the years of experience gained by prison officers working at these open centres cannot at the stroke of a pen be handed over to some other agency."

He called on the minister to reverse the prison closures' decision.

Last month, POA members rejected a prison pay deal which would have introduced a system of annualised hours to cut the E60 million overtime bill.

Prison officers would have received a payment of 1.8 times the hourly wage for additional hours, an average lump sum of E13,750, and an 8% rise in operational allowances.

The options now available to the POA include re-balloting on the prison pay deal, taking industrial action or accepting the privatisation plans of Mr McDowell.