Patrick Costello
Question:
598. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice the number of overtime hours provided to the Irish Prison Service, broken down by prison. for the period of 2015 to 2021 and to date in 2021; and the dates on which they were fully allocated. [11657/22]
View answer
It has not been possible to obtain the information requested by the Deputy in the time permitted. Relevant information has been sought and I will send it to the Deputy directly when it has been compiled.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.
I refer to Parliamentary Question 598 for written reply on 1 March 2022, requesting the number of overtime hours provided to the Irish Prison Service broken down by prison for the period 2015 to 2021 and to date in 2022; and the dates on which they were fully allocated. The information requested was not readily available at that time and I undertook to respond to you as soon as possible with the relevant information. I can advise that the information requested has now been collated and reviewed and it is set out below.
I can advise the Deputy in 2005, following facilitated negotiations by the then Labour Relations Commission (LRC) between the Irish Prison Service and the Prison Officers Association (POA), an agreed report, namely the Proposal for Organisational Change in the Irish Prison Service (PFOC) was adopted. A central element of this agreement was the introduction of the additional hours system to replace the more conventional system of overtime payments.
The additional hours system is broadly based on the concept of ‘annualised’ hours whereby staff are contracted to work a given number of additional hours each year and those hours are paid for whether or not they are required to be worked. The additional hours system is based on the organisation of work on an annual, rather than a weekly basis, with Prison Officers undertaking to work a specified number of additional hours in a year. A banding system is in operation with 4 bands available, 360, 240, 112 and 0 hours available per annum.
The additional hours budget for each Irish Prison Service location is assigned at HQ level to each prison and the current banding allocation is based on that agreed under the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) whereby the total number of serving staff is divided into the above banding system on the basis of a 10% on Band 0, Band 1 and Band 2 respectively and 70% on Band 3. As the number of staff increase/decrease at a location the additional hours budget is amended accordingly.
The attached report reflects the additional hours applied and the dates they were allocated broken down by Prison for the years 2017 – 2022. For the years 2015 and 2016 the total additional hours budget available was 1,124,074 and 876,958 hours respectively. In 2015 the additional hours quarters were aligned with the calendar year and as such a 5th period was required, this accounts for the increase in additional hours available for 2015. A breakdown by prison of the additional hours applied and the dates they were allocated for the years 2015 and 2016 is not readily available as the Irish Prison Service recording system changed.
For the year 2022, the projected hours for year end is 905,000. This is subject to change having regard to the Haddington Road Agreement and resourcing levels within the additional hours system in addition to increased demand on prison tasks as a consequence of COVID, such as increased hospital admissions and increased court escort activity.
