The pay dispute by prison officers is nearing an end, with officers expected to ballot next month on a package which would see savings of €25 million on overtime, writes Conor Lally.
The Irish Times has learned a deal is being finalised which would see prison officers receiving a once-off compensation payment, a higher average rate of pay for overtime hours worked, and a productivity-linked pay increase.
In exchange, each officer would commit to working at least seven hours rostered overtime per week.
They would be told each month which days they were needed to work overtime under a new "forward detailing" system, and would not be called to work overtime at short notice.
Talks between the Prison Officers' Association (POA) and the Irish Prison Service began at the Labour Relations Commission last January. These have now ended. The arbitration board is now considering the "pay elements" of the deal.
The chairman of the board, Mr Gerard Durkan SC, is expected to make his final ruling in the next fortnight, and the package will then be put to prison officers to vote.
As part of the deal, a new recruit grade for prison officers will be created.
Similar to An Garda Síochána, officers will train for between two and three years, rather than nine weeks as is the practice at present.
Plans to outsource the prison escorts system will be shelved - it will be run by a dedicated escort service staffed by prison officers.
Around 70 gates within the prison system will be automated, meaning officers will no longer be required to man these. This will result in savings of almost 310,000 man hours per year.
In May 2003, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, told the POA annual conference he was imposing a 90-day deadline for agreement on a package aimed at cutting prison officer overtime from €64 million to €30 million.
The officers were then offered an annual payment of €10,000 in exchange for agreeing to work 360 hours overtime each per year. The officers rejected this deal in September 2003.
The Minister has since mothballed two prisons: the Curragh Place of Detention, Co Kildare, and Fort Mitchell, Spike Island, Co Cork.
He has also threatened to privatise prison escorts, and place the running of two other facilities outside the remit of the prison service if a deal on overtime is not reached.
If the prison officers accept the deal, the savings realised will be invested in the prison system.