Prison guards keep bonus for dealing with subversives

Officers at the State’s maximum security jail have won their claim to hold onto a special allowance for dealing with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals.

The Civil Service Arbitration Board (CSAB) has ruled that staff at Portlaoise Prison can retain an “environmental allowance” worth €30.97 per week for another two years, pending a further review at that stage. The allowance is paid to 150 prison staff at Portlaoise at an annual cost of €250,000.

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has argued that the allowance should be abolished on the grounds that the number of subversive prisoners housed in Portlaoise has declined dramatically since its peak in the early 1980s.