McDowell defies POA to publish Prisons Bill

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has published details of a controversial bill that would allow private companies to escort prisoners.

The Prisons Bill 2005 has been published amid a growing row between Mr McDowell and the Prison Officers' Association (POA) over pay and conditions. The POA said they were "bitterly disappointed" at the publication of the bill.

Mr McDowell said he had refrained from releasing the bill "in order to facilitate negotiations with the POA". He said the privatisation of prisoner escorts is "one of several contingency measures" approved

by Government if agreement could not be reached with the POA on cutting overtime.

The Government, which wants to cut the prisons overtime bill from €60 million to €35 million, offered prison officers a new deal that would see them earning between €48,000 and €70,000 for working an average of seven hours overtime each per week. They would also have been paid a once-off payment of €13,750.

The minister said this morning that currently, all movement of prisoners is done while officers are being paid overtime, a situation which is "colossally expensive" and one that he was "not willing to allow in the future".

Mr McDowell said his offer was "very, very generous" and would bring prison officers a "huge" guaranteed salary.

However, the POA rejected the deal in a vote by a margin of two to one and proposed a compromise pay deal at their annual conference in Castlebar, Co Mayo. The Minister said today he wanted to see this proposals in written form but that he was not open to negotiation on the deal.

"As the POA membership have rejected the deal negotiated with their executive with assistance from the Labour Relations Commission and the Civil Service Arbitration Board, I must now proceed with outsourcing prisoner escort services in order to achieve the necessary overtime savings," Mr McDowell said in a statement.

The POA today argued that privatisating the transportation of prisoners held "huge risks".

POA president Gabriel Keaveny claimed research shows both prisoners and prison officers are assaulted much more frequently in the private prison environment.

"In our prisons we have a responsibility to care for some of the most vulnerable persons in our society, so we should not try to do it on the cheap if better systems are still available," he said.

Mr McDowell said the use of video would reduce security risks and costs involved with transporting prisoners from jails to courthouses.

The Bill also contains provisions to allow for the closure of Mountjoy Prison and to allow the use of video-links in remand and pre-trial hearings.