The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants has condemned the failure of the Government to offer prison governors a pay increase in line with the 12.9 per cent increase granted to prison officers. So far the governors have been offered one long-service increment after three years at the top of the existing scale. This is worth about 6.5 per cent. In return they are being asked to surrender existing unsocial hours allowances.
The Governor of Mountjoy Prison, Mr John Lonergan, told the AHCPS's conference at the weekend that the State's 16 prison governors needed the support of their colleagues in the AHCPS to produce meaningful negotiations.
He said the job was more demanding than ever, with 2,500 prisoners to be cared for, compared with 1,000 in 1980.
In his own prison, Mountjoy, there had been 420 men and between 10 and 12 women in 1984. Today there were 750 to 760 men, and between 60 and 70 women. Governors of Class Two prisons like Mountjoy earn between £36,000 and £42,000, while governors of Class One prisons like Cork or Limerick earn between £34,000 and £38,000.
It took anything from 20 to 30 years for somebody to work up through the prison service to governor level and many would retire before they became eligible for the long-service increment on offer. Mr Lonergan ruled out industrial action by the governors. "We have to be responsible and industrial action would be totally inappropriate," he said.