Delegates at the Prison Officers' Association annual conference staged a walkout during a speech delivered by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, this morning.
According to delegates, the walkout was staged in protest at the Minister's assertion that the current overtime system will end in four months, with or without agreement between the Department and the prison officers.
"The Prison Service's dependence on overtime is indefensible - resources needed for capital programmes and modernisation are being cannibalised to feed the insatiable and indefensible overtime budget," the Minister had told delegates.
"The majority of prison officers know that the overtime dependence culture is unsustainable, and must come to an end," he stated.
The Minister reminded the few remaining listeners that the prison officers had until July to agree to a new annualised hours system, which he said would be introduced in September. Under the new system, overtime working will be eliminated through the contracting of staff to work certain levels of additional hours, to be paid for whether or not they are required to be worked. New rosters for the Service are also planned.
The decision to implement the new system is aimed at cutting the rising overtime bill for the service, which currently stands a Eur 60m, a situation described as "indefensible" by the Minister.
Prison officers currently earn, on average, more than Eur 19,000 overtime per year, much more than any other group within the public sector. Much of the overtime is compulsory, with some officers working up to 70 hours a week. In the 12 months to March 2002, prison officers earned on average Eur 1,105 per week, according to data from the Central Statistics Office. This compares to a weekly average of Eur 734 when overtime is removed.
The head of the Irish Prison Service, Mr Sean Aylward, has previously said he would favour an end to the current system where prison officers are left no choice but to work long hours of overtime.