Prison officers’ €60m overtime bill ‘will be slashed’

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday told prison officers he would go ahead with slashing the €60 million overtime bill.

Following the collapse of negotiations on Wednesday night, the minister said the time for talk was over and he had to take action.

"I laid down a maximum timeframe within which agreement would have to be arrived at before I would act unilaterally. I've played a considerable amount of extra time," said Mr McDowell.