Speaking at the Prison Officers Annual Delegate Conference in Galway today, Gabriel Keaveny, Deputy General Secretary said, “Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners. This applies in pressure to traffic in contraband, including weapons and illegal drugs. Serious violence is often part of the scenario here and we prison officers pay the inevitable price. The overcrowding crisis is contributing to a drastic increase in prisoner-on-prisoner assaults. Very often these are vulnerable prisoners who are set upon by the bullies”

Keaveny continued, “The assaults on prison officers have tragically become part of the system, part of the culture – and this is not acceptable to the Prison Officers Association. All state employees should have a safe working environment, not so for prison officers, and this seems to be widely accepted by the entire management body”

“Recently, we have seen an officer receive life altering injuries after being slashed in the face with an improvised weapon. We have seen an officer’s house fire-bombed and was it not for that officer’s quick reaction, the outcome could have been far more serious or even fatal”

“The overcrowding crisis continues to detiorate, drug use in our prisons is at unprecedented levels, and failure to implement agreed policies is resulting in less services for prisoners. This combination is creating the perfect storm and as history repeats itself assaults on staff will inevitably increase as the tension levels in our prisons intensifies. And this as we all know will sooner or later lead to a major crisis in one or more of our prisons. We see our garda colleagues on the beat each day carrying incapacitating spray, batons and body cams. PPE has been sanctioned for our members but not one prison officer on the floor of any prison today has been issued with this PPE”

Keaveny concluded, “At our Annual Conference last year, when speaking on this very issue, Minister Mc Entee said that “Obviously permitting the use of incapacitant spray in a prison setting is something that will require robust policies, procedures and training, as well as potential legislative changes but I have asked that whatever is needed to provide for this, be done’. Yet one year later there are no prison officers on landings that have this level of protection. I call on our present Minister to protect our members. I ask that your actions speak louder than words and that you ensure that this PPE is rolled out to Prison Officers without any further delays”