Prison officers at Shanganagh Castle, an open detention centre for young offenders, are staging a picket this morning in protest at the decision to close it.
Up to 20 officers plan to picket the south Co Dublin centre from 10 a.m. to highlight "the injustice and the wrong" of discontinuing the centre, which is due to shut before Christmas.
"Shanganagh is the only open centre in the State which takes young offenders between the ages of 16 and 21. Closing it will mean an end to any opportunity for rehabilitation these young men have," a spokesman for the prison officers said.
The officers, who are supported by the Prison Officers' Association, say they have had no talks with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell. "If these young people were in a closed prison, they would be exposed to drugs, here we provide a drug-free environment . . . This place has worked, the decision to close it is so sad and so wrong."
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