Prison chiefs today rejected claims that they had failed to respond to allegations of bullying and sexual harassment of officers at a jail.
It came as members of the Irish Prison Officers Association (IPOA) prepared to stage a one hour walk-out in protest at the complaints, which include a claim of harassment of a female officer by a male prisoner.
They said that even when the prisoner was moved from Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon, he still managed to harass the officer by sending her a letter, despite security arrangements.
The group also claimed members of staff had been verbally abused by managers.
"The management of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has for 12 months failed to respond to our reasonable representation," said IPOA deputy general secretary Mr Eugene Dennehy.
He said members had been left with no choice but to stage a one-hour stoppage this afternoon to highlight the issue.
However, Mr Sean Aylward, director general of the IPS, said management had responded to the allegations and offered to negotiate with officers.
"I don't accept that we haven't responded," he told RTE radio. "We have met with the IPOA, they have given us a whole series of complaints - 30 separate complaints - and one of the difficulties we had was pinning down those complaints."
Mr Aylward said procedures were in place to deal with such claims but members of the IPOA had failed to co-operate with them.
He said the prison service had asked officers to hold off from the "nuclear option", which would only result in prisoners suffering.
During today's stoppage, prisoners will be locked in their cells instead of taking part in training and recreational activities.