THE DISPUTE between the head of the Irish Prison Service and the former governor of the State’s only female prison intensified yesterday when Kathleen McMahon accused the service of forcing her resignation.
Ms McMahon, who resigned as governor of the Dóchas Centre in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison, said she could have worked “for another seven years” if conditions had been different. She said she could have stayed on if there had been more support and respect for her position. “All of these issues forced my resignation. We’re not talking about constructive dismissal, but they forced my resignation,” she said.
However, Brian Purcell, the Irish Prison Service director general, said he did not accept the claim by Ms McMahon that she was forced out of her role.
In her resignation letter to the prison service authorities, first published by The Irish Times on Monday, Ms McMahon said her role had been made “completely impossible” in recent months. She said there was a lack of communication and consultation, and that she was excluded from a recent decision to put bunk beds into rooms designed for one prisoner.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny yesterday, she said: “I sent numerous e-mails to the prison service about my concerns about the overcrowding and other issues and I didn’t even get a response.” She rejected a claim by Mr Purcell that consultation in decision-making took place.
Ms McMahon said her interpretation of consultation and Mr Purcell’s differ, adding: “My idea of consultation and communication is that you sit down with people and tease out the problems”.
Responding, Mr Purcell said: “By consultation, Kathleen means agreement. Kathleen was consulted about this proposal, but she did not agree with the position.”