Overtime row threatens to shut down four prisons

FOUR prisons face closure in a programme of shutdowns to begin in January unless agreement is reached in the overtime dispute with prison officers, prison bosses warned yesterday.

As talks aimed at solving the dispute opened at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin, director general of the Irish Prison Service Sean Aylward said: “Overtime costs must be tackled. Doing nothing is not an option.”

Among the institutions earmarked for early closure are Fort Mitchell and the Curragh Prison. Shelton Abbey and Loughlan House, both so-called open prisons would be closed temporarily and thereafter privatised