Prison officers were today recovering after being doused in scalding water during a brawl among warring inmates in one the country's top security jails.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the attack on two warders, hospitalised after they moved in to settle a row in Dublin's Mountjoy prison last night.
The pair had to be treated for serious burns when boiling water was thrown over their heads and necks while another officer was severely bitten on the leg, according to the Prison Officers' Association (POA).
Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the POA, said the three staff were discharged from hospital but have taken leave from work to recover.
"The staff are pretty traumatised as a result of it. These are not things people face in their normal daily work," he said.
Mr Dennehy said the officers were set upon as they tried to restore order to the notorious prison's C wing after the row broke out at about 7.30pm.
"Prison officers, as is their duty, moved in to stop it and two prison officers were badly scalded with boiling water and another officer was savagely bitten on the leg," he said.
A prison service spokesman could only confirm two warders were injured and taken to hospital, but said further details were expected in the prison governor's report.
Mr Dennehy said the injuries were another example of the conditions faced by the country's 3,300 prison officers, who staged a one-hour walkout across the state today.