The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Michael McDowell, T.D., today said that he had been authorised by the Government to put arrangements in place, in the event of a failure to come to an agreement with the Prison Officers Association, to secure urgent cost saving measures in the Prison Service.
The Minister recalled that when on 30 April this year he addressed the Annual Delegate Conference of the POA he said that the POA had a unique opportunity to play a major and constructive role in shaping the future of the Irish Prison Service. The Minister said he had urged the Association to grasp that opportunity with both hands and to respond positively to the proposals put to them.
The Minister said that he had to conclude, with no small amount of regret, that the POA had not entered into the protracted negotiations that followed with any sense of urgency or commitment to a process of eradicating the unacceptable level of overtime working in the prison service.
The reality, the Minister said, was that time and money had now run out and he had no option but, with effect from the next financial year, to introduce a range of measures that would help to ensure that the Irish Prison Service would operate within a manageable budget, given the resources available to him.
Overtime costs in the Prison Service have grown out of all control and are cannibalising funds allocated by the Oireachtas for major building, refurbishment and improvement of the prison service generally. In excess of Euro60 million is being spent on overtime earnings for about 3,300 prison officers which is considerably more this year than the overtime expenditure on the entire Garda force of 11,900 members. This situation, the Minister noted, has been described recently by one prison Governor as absolutely crazy.
At this morning's Cabinet meeting the Government received a report on the ongoing negotiations with the Prison Officers Association concerning the unacceptable level of overtime in the Irish Prison Service. Arising from the meeting the Government agreed that the following measures would be introduced from 1 January, 2004, unless the POA had by then concluded an agreement on the basis of the proposals put to them:
- The strict capping of staffing levels and overtime from 1 January 2004 onwards at a level which will result in an annual expenditure to be provided for in the Estimates to be published later this week. This level will correspond to the offer already recently made to the Prison Officers Association.
- The temporary mothballing of Fort Mitchell and the Curragh. The Minister said that the Government wish to emphasise that the temporary closure of these institutions would not have occurred under its proposals to the Prison Officers Association. It results solely from the failure of the Prison Officers Association to agree to reasonable proposals for controlling costs in the prison system.
- The publication of a prior information notice in the EU Official Journal inviting tenders from contractors to provide a prison escort service to the Irish Prison Service.
- Proposals for the transformation of the existing open prisons at Loughan House and Shelton Abbey. The facilities will, however, be retained under new State management arrangements, into equivalent facilities operated and staffed outside the Prison Service with equivalent conditions for prisoners accommodated there on a temporary release regime. The detail of this arrangement is currently under consideration and will be finalised shortly.
- The introduction of a new entry grade for the recruitment of prison officers.
- The arrangements in relation to a prison escort service and the new entry grade will be the subject of consultation as required by the Partnership principles of Sustaining Progress.
The Minister said he is particularly anxious that the action of the Prison Officers should not prejudice education and rehabilitation services to prisoners. The reality is that the proposals put forward by him, and rejected by the POA, would have ensured that the resources of the Irish Prison Service, as voted by the Oireachtas, would not in future be dissipated in paying overtime for outmoded practices, but would have been available to improve the physical infrastructure and rehabilitative programmes of our prisons.
Government Proposal
The Minister urged the Prison Officers, even at this late stage, to avail of the time between now and 1 January to conclude an agreement with the Irish Prison Service on the basis of the proposals already made to them which are the result of seven years protracted studies and negotiation.
The Minister put forward a set of proposals which would see the introduction of more efficient work practices and the replacement of the present overtime system, which costs the Exchequer over Euro60 million annually, by an annualised hours system.
Overtime earnings, which bring the earnings of basic grade Officers in some cases to well over Euro100,000 per annum, would end and instead all Prison Officers would receive an annual payment, in some case of over Euro10,000, on top of their basic pay, with each officer accepting, in return for this, a liability to work about 7 extra hours per week if called upon to do so. The payment would be made whether they worked the extra hours or not. On top of that extra annual payment, each officer would also receive a once-off lump-sum in the region of Euro12,000.
The Minister considers this to be a very a good offer, freeing prison officers of the burden of unsociable overtime working and providing long term savings to the Exchequer in the region of Euro30 million per annum.
POA Proposal
The counter proposals by the Prison Officers Association did not realistically address the core problem of escalating overtime costs in the Prison Service. It did, however, envisage major pay increases or the recruitment of 1,200 extra prison officers. These proposals have been considered by Government and have been rejected as wholly unrealistic.
Commenting on the proposal put forward by the POA, and which has been presented by some commentators including the Labour Party as an effective solution, the Minister said it did not address the core problem of escalating overtime costs in the Prison Service. The central feature of the POA proposal is a demand for a pay increase or the recruitment of yet more prison officers. |
