Ten prisoners who spent the night on wire-meshing over an exercise yard in St Patrick's Institution in Dublin came down peacefully yesterday morning.
The prisoners had climbed up onto the meshing, which prevents drugs and alcohol being thrown over into the yard from outside. They climbed up at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday. Eight of the prisoners came down between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. yesterday and the last two came down between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "It was organised in some way as a cocktail of drugs and alcohol was thrown over onto the net from outside and these were consumed by the prisoners up there."
The prisoners made no demands. It was not a protest about any particular thing, he said.
They definitely had it planned judging by the amount of clothing they were wearing, the spokesman said. Once they had taken the drugs, they came down.
Plans were already being put in place to expand the nets. This would prevent such actions in future as there were other dangers too, he said. A prisoner could go to the edge of the perimeter wall and, although they could not escape, they could fall.
However, the plans would now be prioritised and brought forward as a matter of urgency. Personnel from the prison's services division would be inspecting the net today. The plan would be to raise the wire net by a few feet and to extend it out towards the perimeter wall, he said.
Nets had proved an effective measure for curtailing the practice of drugs and alcohol being thrown into the open spaces below.
The prisoners will be brought before the governor for breach of the prison rules.