Prison officers last night warned the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, that his "Thatcherite" approach to the ongoing overtime row may lead to a "major dispute" which would seriously damage the prison service.
It was the first time the officers have publicly referred to the prospect of industrial action over the impasse in talks.
In a strongly-worded attack on Mr McDowell the Prison Officers' Association said the Minister's decision to press ahead today with the closure of the Curragh Place of Detention, Co Kildare, was "quite incredible".
More than half of the Curragh's 89 inmates were yesterday transferred to the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise. The remaining prisoners, and prison officers, will transfer today when the closure of the prison is expected to be complete. POA general secretary, Mr John Clinton, said the closure was provocative, adding that Mr McDowell was bullying prison officers.
Mr Clinton strongly criticised the timing of the inmate transfers, which took place at the same time that prison officers' representatives and officials from the prison service were beginning fresh talks at the Labour Relations Commission.
"It is now clear that the agenda of management, at all times, was to close and privatise prisons," he said. "This runs entirely contrary to stated Government policy. If a major dispute now emerges - and this appears to be what management want - it will set the prison service back decades. With crime increasing in many sectors surely this is not in the best interests of Irish society." He added that prison officers had rejected by more than 99 per cent an annualised hours package put forward by the Government.
Mr McDowell has consistently maintained that the high levels of overtime in the prison service are unsustainable.
A spokesman for the Minister refuted the suggestion that Mr McDowell was bullying the officers. The preferred course of action was a resolution of the dispute, but because this had not happened the Minister had no option but to put his cost-cutting contingency plan into action, the spokesman said.
While most of the Curragh's inmates are elderly sex offenders, the director-general of the prison service, Mr Seán Aylward, said they would be as secure in the Midlands prison as they had been at the Curragh. One of the inmates, who is in his 80s, is bedridden and was taken from the Curragh by ambulance.
The Department of Justice and the prison service want the prison officers to accept a salary increase of around €10,300 in exchange for agreeing to work 360 hours overtime every year. The annualised hours offer is aimed at halving the €65 million overtime bill.
The prison officers believe that under the plan they will be required to work overtime at very short notice. They say officers are often forced to work overtime and if the Government was serious about reducing the overtime bill it would hire more officers.
The closure of the Curragh forms part of a contingency plan by Mr McDowell to reduce expenditure within the prison service. Spike Island Prison, Cork, will close on January 31st as a further cost-cutting measure.
