A threat of industrial action in prisons receded yesterday when the Prison Officers' Association decided to recommend a revised overtime offer to its members.
The decision, taken by delegates to a special conference of the association in Dublin, was given a "cautious welcome" by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell. He had threatened to move immediately to privatise the prison escort service in the event of the POA rejecting the overtime offer.
It will now be put to the association's 3,200 members in a ballot, likely to be concluded within a month.
Acceptance of the deal would end a two-year dispute between the POA and Mr McDowell about the annual €60 million prisons' overtime bill, which the Government is seeking to reduce by €25 million.
If prison officers reject the deal, however, Mr McDowell's privatisation plans will be back on the agenda and the threat of industrial action will return.
The officers have already rejected overtime terms broadly similar to those now on offer, in spite of a recommendation in favour of acceptance by the POA national executive.
This time, however, the recommendation will carry greater weight, given that it has been endorsed by delegates to a POA conference.
The offer previously voted on would have seen prison officers earn a salary of between €48,000 and €70,000 in exchange for working an average of seven hours' overtime each a week. They would also have received a once-off payment of €13,750.
Officers rejected it two to one. Many did not want to work overtime and believed they would be forced to do so under the deal.
Mr McDowell has since agreed to "tweak" those terms, however, to facilitate a greater number of prison officers who do not wish to work overtime.
POA general secretary John Clinton said delegates yesterday had voted on the basis of the new terms on offer "and nothing other than that".
He said a clarification secured by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), concerning the future of Spike Island Prison, Co Cork, had also been helpful.
Ictu had been told it was Mr McDowell's preferred choice to redevelop the prison, which is currently closed, and to keep the running of the prison within the public service.
This was confirmed yesterday by a spokeswoman for Mr McDowell, but she emphasised that the plan was contingent on prison officers accepting the new overtime offer.
Mr Clinton said the revised terms would allow between 10 and 13 per cent of prison officers to opt out of working overtime, compared to 5 per cent under the previous offer.
The POA pointed out that the revised deal did not involve additional costs for the State, other than those agreed at the LRC and the Civil Service Arbitration Board earlier this year.