Industrial action by 260 probation and welfare officers which began yesterday will hit local drugs projects and paralyse the work of the Parole Board, their union, IMPACT, believes.
The decision to begin the threatened action was taken at the annual general meeting of the union's Probation and Welfare Officers' branch at the weekend - over the Department of Justice's refusal to stipulate that the person to be appointed as Director of the Probation Service must be a professional social scientist.
The post of director is new and the remuneration package has yet to be announced. However, it is understood it is likely to be graded somewhere between the current principal officer (Department of Finance) level and that of an assistant secretary of a Government department - to reflect the managerial/professional nature of the job.
The union is concerned that "the Department has refused to give assurances" that the post will continue to be held by a qualified professional into the future, the union's assistant general secretary, Mr Ray Ryan, said. "Probation and welfare is a complex mix of crime prevention and social care. You simply cannot run an effective service without relevant experience and qualifications through the organisation - especially at the top."
The Department has indicated, however, that while a professional qualification is desirable, it is not absolutely necessary. Its priority in filling the post is to find somebody with the managerial skills to oversee a nationwide organisation with an annual budget in excess of €30 million. That may result in recruiting somebody from outside the service altogether - or even outside the health service. The possibility of recruiting from inside the service has not been ruled out.
Probation officers have withdrawn co-operation from out-of-hours services, including local drugs task forces and community service projects. And they will refuse to provide risk assessment reports to the Parole Board, "effectively paralysing its work", IMPACT said.
The Parole Board considers applications from prisoners serving sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment. Without risk assessments it will be unable to make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, who ultimately approves or rejects parole applications.
The effects of the action are likely to be "cumulative", a union spokesman said. If the dispute is not resolved quickly the probation officers could step up their action.