The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, set out to close two of the State's prisons to cut costs, and never had any interest in resolving the prisons' overtime issue, the Prison Officers' Association (POA) claimed last night.
Opposition parties and other groups opposed to the closures of Fort Mitchell Prison on Spike Island, Cork, and the Curragh Place of Detention, Kildare, said the Minister's plans were "not viable" and were "unconvincing".
Mr John Clinton, POA general secretary, described as "quite incredible" the decision approved by the Government to close the two prisons from January until the prison officers' overtime issue is resolved, and to place the management of Shelton Abbey, Wicklow, and Loughan House, Cavan, outside the remit of the Prison Service.
He said the POA last week had made a proposal which would have saved the prison service at least €30 million annually "and it has been ignored". "It is now clear that closure and privatisation was always top of the agenda," Mr Clinton said.
"Prison officers' overtime was merely a smokescreen. The Minister eventually wanted prison officers to agree to a 47-hour compulsory working week and this was not acceptable."
The POA also disputed a statement by the Minister that the officers had rejected trade union advice to accept a €10,300 increase in salary in return for working 360 extra hours a year. It said it never received such advice.
Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello TD, said no convincing case had been made for the Minister's plans. Mr McDowell had "promised so much" but was now delivering "back of the beer-mat proposals".
"In his response to the crime crisis or the problems of the prison service, Minister McDowell seems incapable of accepting any criticism or of giving consideration to any viewpoint or suggestion other than his own," Mr Costello said.
Fine Gael's spokesman on justice, Mr John Deasy TD, said: "At a time when the State should be putting together a comprehensive and targeted response to the crime gangs of Dublin, Limerick and elsewhere, one must question the wisdom of the Minister for Justice planning to reduce the capacity of the prisons system."
While he accepted prison overtime needed to be tackled, it was now questionable if "there will be the necessary prison spaces available if and when the gardaí get the resources to take on and eliminate the crime gangs".
The Irish Penal Reform Trust said the Minister was "willing to sacrifice sensible long-term planning to the needs of short-term politicking". Its executive director, Mr Rick Lines, said there was no evidence to suggest Mr McDowell's plans "will address the problems [he] claims to be solving".
