Officers get €160,000 to guard empty jails

PRISON officers guarding empty jails have been paid over €160,000 in overtime since the prisons were closed in an effort to cut down on overtime bills.

The 20 prison officers making up the ‘skeleton staff’ in the ‘ghost prisons’ at Spike Island and the Curragh receive their full salaries and allowances of around €45,000 a year.

On top of that, they have also been paid an average of €8,100 in overtime since the facilities closed earlier this year.

Fort Mitchell Prison on Spike Island in Cork Harbour was “mothballed” in February and the Curragh Prison in Kildare was shut down in January, after prison officers rejected a new pay deal aimed at chopping the prohibitive €60 million overtime bill.

Responding to questions from Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe, the Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday said the closure of the two prisons saved €6m in pay costs already this year.

But Mr O’Keeffe said the minister still had some explaining to do as the continued overtime payments appeared to fly in the face of the rationale behind the prison closures.

There are 12 staff serving at the Cork facility and 11 at Kildare.

The staff at Fort Mitchel comprise of two part-time governors, who do not get paid overtime, and nine prison officers, while in the Curragh there is one governor and 10 prison officers, the Irish Prison Service said yesterday.

Up to the end of September, €162,000 in overtime was paid to staff, said Mr McDowell.

“Overtime is necessary in the prisons because of the pattern of cover required to maintain security all day, every day and the small number of staff providing that cover,” he said.

“It made sense to retain a small cadre of the staff from the institutions rather than retaining private security firms which would have incurred additional costs.”

The continued payment of overtime at empty prisons, when the intention was to cut down on overtime is “absolutely ironic”, said Mr O’Keeffe.

“This expenditure on overtime in a situation where there are no prisoners being guarded seems to me to be a very questionable use of resources,” he said.

The minister said he hopes an agreement between the Irish Prison Service and the Prison Officers Association will be finalised in the next month.