The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has decided to abandon plans to stage one-hour work stoppages in prisons across the country today and on Friday.
The prison service wants prison officers to be searched in airport-style security checks before clocking in, as part of a row over clocking in new search rules.
The development follows agreement between the association and Irish Prison Service to engage in talks before a third-party mediator. The mediator's involvement was agreed in correspondence between the POA and the Department of Finance. A date for the talks has not yet been fixed.
The association believes the prison service's proposals will result in members waiting to be searched and being searched in their own time. They have already held two one-hour work stoppages over the matter.
