Prison smoking challenged

Prison officers are to legally challenge the Government's failure to ban smoking in their workplaces.

The officers believe they are being discriminated against having to work in an environment where prisoners are allowed to smoke.

They also believe if the Government does not abolish the prison smoking ban exemption the State may face thousands of compensation claims in the future from any staff or inmates who fall ill with cancer.

At the closing session of the POA annual conference, delegates passed a motion instructing the national executive to seek legal advice on taking a judicial review challenging the prison exemption.

The possibility of a legal challenge was proposed by Joe Hernon, a prison officer in St Patrick's Institution, Dublin.

He said his proposal was based on prison officers being granted their constitutional rights rather than the "rights and wrongs of smoking".

He said in recent years prison officers were blamed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell for problems that were caused by the failure of the State to run the prisons properly. He now wanted decisive action on smoking in jails.