POA says members are not considering another ballot

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has rejected suggestions by the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell that its members had approached prison governors about the possibility of another ballot on a pay deal which has already been rejected by a two to one majority.

POA deputy general secretary Eugene Dennehy said despite what Mr McDowell may have said about prison officers putting out "feelers" to prison governors about the possibility of another ballot, his association knew of no such development. "Our members have already made a decision in relation this issue," he said.

Mr McDowell has already closed two prisons to cut costs in the absence of any deal with the prison officers on the overtime issue. The running of two open jails is to be placed outside the remit of the prison service and prison escorts are to be privatised. The Irish Prison Service yesterday posted notices on tender websites informing companies it would soon be inviting tenders for the provision of an escort service.

At the annual conference in Tralee, Co Kerry, of the Garda Representative Association earlier this week Mr McDowell said he had been told of informal approaches by prison officers to prison governors on the possibility of another ballot.

When asked yesterday if another ballot should take place, Mr McDowell said: "I don't want to advise any union as to how it should conduct its own affairs. It's up to them to address this issue, they have a conference in the near future.

"I hope that at that conference common sense will prevail and they will see they are going down a lonely road where there is no particularly friendly outcome from their point of view."

The POA annual conference begins in Castlebar next Thursday. The conference is likely to be dominated by debate on the two-year long pay dispute.

The officers have already rejected an offer which would have given them a basic salary of between €48,000 and €70,000, depending on seniority. The offer also involved a once-off payment of almost €14,000.

The officers would have been expected to work seven hours overtime each per week. The Department believes the deal would have cut the annual overtime budget across the prison service by €25 million. Overtime cost €60 million last year.