A plan to use a private company to provide increased security at the Four Courts in Dublin has been criticised by the union representing existing security staff.
The new arrangements, including the use of scanning equipment at entrances to the complex, will take effect in the coming weeks, and are to be fully implemented by mid-April.
Group Four Security will provide the personnel to operate the new system, under contract from the Courts Service.
This has angered the Federated Union of Government Employees (FUGE), which says full-time staff should have been recruited instead.
Mr Michael Coffey, the union's general secretary, also criticised what he said was a lack of consultation with existing security staff about the new arrangements.
A spokesman for the Courts Service said the improved security arrangements were "new and additional work" for which it did not have sufficient personnel.
He said the service was also restrained, because of the cap on public service job numbers, from recruiting extra staff. "For this reason, an outside company, with specialist knowledge, was sought to provide the new security arrangements. Staff were kept informed of the plans as they progressed."
Mr Coffey said there had been no need to privatise the work, and the decision to do so had implications for Government decentralisation.
He said members of the FUGE did a range of non-clerical jobs, such as cleaning, security and front-desk duties. Only a tiny percentage had expressed an interest in relocating to decentralised offices. This had given rise to a fear that their jobs would be privatised at new locations while large numbers of surplus staff remained in Dublin.
Mr Coffey also accused the Government of circumventing its own restrictions on public service recruitment by using a private contractor at the Four Courts when about six additional full-time staff could have provided the same service.
Access to the Four Courts through the front door of the main building will no longer be possible when the new arrangements are fully implemented. Public entrances will be located at Morgan Place and the front door of the Circuit Courthouse at Chancery Place. The Courts Service spokesman said there was no question of restricting public access to the courts.
