Overtime payouts must be cut

THE prison overtime row has taken a potentially explosive twist amid claims that staff who receive big payments have grown accustomed to a lifestyle epitomised by big houses, big mortgages, big cars and foreign holidays.

This charge, levelled by the Governor of Mountjoy Jail, has a sharper edge to it than any political utterance by Justice Minister Michael McDowell, who is locked on a collision course with the prison officers over the need to slash their huge overtime earnings.

In keeping with his reputation for calling a spade a spade, Governor John Lonergan yesterday told a conference of principal teachers some home truths about the manpower levels required to run the country's prisons.