Statement by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Michael McDowell on announcement of POA members ballot rejection of annualised hours package.
"I note with regret the Prison Officers rejection of the annualised hours package which was put forward by management to replace the unsustainable current staffing system in the prisons.
This package had been produced following several years of professional analysis and consultation with the Prison Officers Association.
The overtime system which this proposed package would have replaced involves attendance levels and patterns which no longer obtain in any other modern prison system.
The cost in human and financial terms of current attendance levels in Irish prisons is simply unsustainable. The funding is not and will not be available for its continuance.
Contingency plans are now at an advanced stage of preparation to achieve the necessary economies in the Irish Prison Service and these plans will be fine tuned by me and Government colleagues over the coming days.
Before bringing these plans forward to implementation, I propose to allow a ten day period starting tomorrow October 30th in which to allow prison management and the prison officers union leadership to see whether they can close the gap between them in this matter." |
