Vol. 490 No. 4
133 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position regarding recruitment to the prison service with particular reference to the number of persons who have passed the exam, called for interview and placed on panels; the manner in which the panels are operating; the number of persons he expects to be called for recruitment in 1998; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10292/98]
The Civil Service Commission is currently calling candidates from the 1995 prison officer competition. Of those 3,531 candidates who passed the written examination, some 1,191 were invited to the second stage i.e. written test and interview. As a result of this ongoing process and following medical examination and character reference inquiries a total of 151 have been approved for appointment to the Prison Service to date. Interviews are ongoing and will be completed in June at which stage it is estimated that approximately 200 further candidates will have been interviewed.
A new competition was advertised on 23 April 1998. The closing date for applications is 14 May 1998 and it is anticipated that up to 600 prison officers will be recruited from this competition.
