Prison officers hit out at closure plans

The decision to close two prisons and privatise two open prisons will cost the state in the long term, prison officers warned today.

The changes were introduced by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell after prison officers voted against accepting a new pay deal.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said the closure of the Curragh Prison in Kildare and Spike Island in Cork would lead to short-term savings but long-term costs.

“The short-term option is not always the cheapest option. This serious reduction in prison spaces will inevitably lead to increased overcrowding, worsening of conditions within the remaining prisons and the return of the revolving door syndrome,” said president Gabriel Keaveney.

At the POA’s annual conference in Castlebar, he said the closure of the two prisons was a devastating blow to the prison officers serving there.

“This type of despicable and shameful treatment of our members must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by our conference today. This is industrial relations Progressive-Democrat style,” he said.

Mr McDowell, who is not attending the conference, has said the POA were told what the consequences of rejection of the pay deal would be.

He is also planning to privatise the prison escort service and to hand the running of the country’s remaining open prisons – Loughan House in Co Cavan and Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow – to an independent agency.

However, Mr Keaveney said prison officers were the only staff qualified to operate the prisons.

“The safety of staff, the safety of the inmates, and indeed the safety of the local people living in close proximity to an open centre, and the years of experience gained by prison officers working at these open centres, cannot at the stroke of a pen be handed over to some other agency.”

He called on Minister McDowell to reverse the prison closures.

The POA is due to meet in closed session at the conference today to discuss its response to the prison privatisation programme.

Last month, its members rejected a prison pay deal which would have introduced a system of annualised hours to cut the €60m overtime bill.

Prison officers would have received a payment of 1.8 times the hourly wage for additional hours, an average lump sum of €13,750, and an 8% increase in operational allowances.

The options now available to the POA include re-balloting on the prison pay deal, taking industrial action or accepting the privatisation plans of Mr McDowell.