The ongoing prison officers' overtime dispute has been referred to arbitration after last-ditch talks at the Labour Relations Commission ended without resolution last night, writes Conor Lally.
Officials from the Prison Officers' Association and Irish Prison Service failed to break the deadlock on an annualised hours package which the Department of Justice wants the officers to agree to. However, bilateral talks will now take place on a number of non-pay related issues. If the sides agree that the substantive pay matter should go before the arbitration board, a hearing will commence by tomorrow.
The prison service said last night that while yesterday's talks were constructive, insufficient progress had been made to avert planned prison closures. Spike Island Prison in Cork and the Curragh Place of Detention in Kildare will close next week.
Prisoners and prison officers will begin transferring to Portlaoise Prison before the end of this week. The closures are part of a Government plan to halve the prison service's €65 million overtime bill.
Under the offer prison officers would receive a €10,300 salary increase in return for working 360 hours of overtime every year. However, the officers have rejected that offer. They fear being called into work at short notice will become a regular feature of their working lives.
As part of prison cutbacks, Tuesday visiting in Limerick Prison is to be suspended from today. Wednesday visiting will be stopped at Mountjoy from tomorrow.
The Prison Officers' Association has warned that cutting back on visiting hours will heighten tensions within the jails.
Workshops in some prisons, where prisoners are employed and receive training, will also close because of reduced budget allocations.