Some prison officers on target to earn over €120,000 this year

Some of the State's prison officers are set to earn around €120,000 in salary, overtime and allowances this year, new figures have shown. This is despite a drive within the prison service to halve the €64 million annual prison overtime spending this year.

One prison officer is on course to earn almost €75,000 in overtime this year, despite the drive to reduce overtime expenditure. Some prison officers are also making €355 per week, more than the €280 weekly minimum wage, on special allowances, in addition to their overtime and annual salary of up to €34,000.

The Irish Prison Service said it is confident of achieving savings of around €32 million this year. Spike Island Prison in Cork, and the Curragh Place of Detention in Co Kildare, have been closed and prison officers and inmates transferred to other facilities as a cost-cutting exercise.

Visiting hours have also been restricted in some jails and workshops for inmates postponed.

Last year, before the drive to cut overtime began, the highest-paid prison officer in the State earned €80,000 in overtime. New figures obtained from the Department of Justice reveal the rates of overtime being paid to the highest earners within the prison system have only marginally been affected by the drive to cut overtime.

In January and February of last year one officer in Portlaoise prison made €15,121 in overtime, or €1,800 per week. He was the highest overtime earner within the prison system. For the same period this year the highest overtime earner, in Mountjoy, made €12,266, or almost €1,500 per week.

In January and February last year the top 10 overtime earners shared €130,000. In the same period this year the top 10 shared almost €110,000. Last year officers from Mountjoy and Portlaoise prisons dominated the ranks of the highest earners.

While officers from those prisons once again figure in the list of top overtime earners their colleagues from Cork and Wheatfield prisons figure more prominently now.

Allowances earned by prison officers have fallen slightly this year in line with the reduced levels of overtime. However, they continue to prove lucrative for a significant number of officers. In the first two months of this year one assistant chief officer at the Training Unit in the Mountjoy complex earned €2,842 in allowances, or €355 per week. One prison officer in Portlaoise earned €2,539 in the two-month period, or almost €320 per week.

There are 23 allowances in all, including a rent allowance of €3,564 payable to all officers. Other allowances depend on the duties different officers perform. For example, there is an allowance of €2,241 for those on gate duty in Mountjoy, or those who perform searches or assist in the school, tuck shop or kitchen, and an "environment" allowance of €1,349 in Portlaoise.

At present talks are continuing at the Labour Relations Commission between the Prison Officers' Association and the Irish Prison Service aimed at reaching an agreement on annualised hours.

The officers have been offered an annual payment of around €10,000 in exchange for working up to 360 non-rostered hours per year. The payment would be made even if the hours are not worked. However, the prison officers have rejected the offer. They fear they will be constantly on call.