Prison officers ‘prolong leave for compo’

PRISON officers prolong their recovery period from injuries received on the job in the hope of getting higher compensation, prison bosses said yesterday.

The revelation came amid a further escalation of the bitter dispute between Justice Minister Michael McDowell and the Prison Officers Association.

Sick leave accounts for 15% of prisons overtime, costing around €9 million a year, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday.

Prison officers take an average of 18 days sick leave per year, with sick leave at Cork Prison averaging almost 40 days.

According to the Irish Prison Service director general Seán Aylward, sick days taken by prison officers benefits their colleagues as that post has to be covered through overtime.

Prison officers sustaining even a minor injury, such as a cut, sometimes stay out for as long as possible as there is a belief this will help their compensation claim, Mr Aylward said. Yet there was a time when prison officers would merely wash off the blood and carry on working, he added.

“Sadly we are not immune from the claims culture. There is encouragement to prolong absence because of a belief that the longer you are off, the more money you get in compensation,” he said.

Department of Justice secretary general Tim Dalton said more research was needed on the whole question of sick leave to find out how much is genuine and how much is absenteeism.

But the POA rejected the accusations of absenteeism and exaggeration of injuries with a spokesman pointing to the large number of serious assaults on prison officers.

“Prison officers do a very dangerous job on behalf of the public,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Mr McDowell defended his plans to close Mountjoy Prison as he said the existing building could not be adapted as a proper place to hold prisoners. Mr McDowell said if a new prison was built as a public private partnership, it would take possibly four years to finish.

However, the plan was criticised by the POA, which said the existing prison should be refurbished.

Responding to Mr McDowell’s dismissal of the suggestion as part of a propaganda campaign, POA deputy general secretary John Clinton denied this was the case and said the union was concerned Mr McDowell appeared to be saying it should not speak to the media.

While the POA are still due to ballot on strike, Mr McDowell remains firm in his belief that the annual overtime bill of €60m must be reduced and that prison officers must accept his offer of a system of annualised hours and modernisation.

According to a spokesman for Mr McDowell, negotiations are at a delicate stage at the moment with the talks at the Labour Relations Commission currently adjourned but still likely to reconvene.