Meeting today after prison walkout

Senior officials from the Irish Prisons Service will today meet representatives of the Prison Officers Association in Dublin for talks at resolving the industrial relations dispute at Castlerea prison, Co Roscommon.

At 2 p.m. yesterday, all 190 prisoners were locked in their cells as staff staged a one-hour walkout. Every prison officer on duty took part in the action and they were joined at the prison gates by some off-duty officers.

The POA deputy general secretary, Mr Eugene Dennehy, said the action was a "last resort". It went ahead because the Prison Service and prison management had repeatedly failed to address serious concerns regarding bullying and harassment.

The Prison Service disputed that assertion. It said it had an action plan which it hoped would help break the current impasse.

The head of the Prison Service, Mr Seán Aylward, said there had been no industrial disputes at any Irish prison for "well over a decade. There is a lot of goodwill there and we are hoping yesterday's events will prove an isolated incident," he said.

The issue had been complicated by the fact that one of the complainants had taken sick leave for "many months" and had failed to take part in the investigation into his complaint.

Mr Dennehy said there were about 30 issues the POA wanted addressed. "There have been two cases of serious bullying against our members by middle management. It has made carrying out tasks and life in general impossible for the staff involved."

He added that many staff had had to go to general council to secure the payment of expenses and subsistence allowances.

Prison management had also tried to impose a new system of seniority on rostering despite the fact the association already had an agreement with the Department of Justice.

The Prison Service said while many issues were unresolved, they were of "varying degrees of importance". It had wasted no time in transferring a prisoner when an issue of sexual harassment had arisen.

Castlerea, the first of the "new generation" of prisons, is unique in that it has a waiting list for prisoners and staff wishing to be transferred there. In use since 1996, its locking systems are automated and almost all cells are single with television and bathroom facilities. It has a strong anti-drugs ethos and the prison doctor refuses to dispense the heroin replacement drug, methadone.