Vol. 227 No. 9
asked the Minister for Justice whether any change is contemplated which would give warders attached to Mountjoy Prison, who are at present required to live in, the option of living out without financial loss; and the number of warders at present required to live in.
43.
asked the Minister for Justice whether any improvement has been made in the living quarters of prison warders attached to Mountjoy Prison who are required to live in.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.
The conditions of service of prison officers are matters provided for in a scheme of conciliation and arbitration established in 1955. In 1962 agreement was reached at a conciliation council meeting for the consolidation of rent allowances with pay, it being a proviso that officers who were provided with living quarters would pay a rental of £1 per week. This arrangement appears to have been accepted by the prison officers' association who have never asked for a change.
New quarters with modern amenities have recently been provided in Mountjoy Male Prison for 29 of the staff who live in.
It is a condition of appointment to the prison service in the interests of security, that unmarried staff may be required to live within the prison.
The Minister is aware of the difficulty whereby single male warders have to be in at a certain time? This means that a man who in the normal way would be seeking a wife has to be in before 12 o'clock each night. As a result, these people are the victims of discrimination because they have to provide accommodation outside the prison and also pay for accommodation in the prison they are not using.
I think this matter should be left to the conciliation and arbitration machinery. It is a matter that can be brought up within the framework of that machinery.
