The director general of the Irish Prison Service, Brian Purcell, has warned prison officers he will not tolerate unofficial industrial action following an incident at Cloverhill Prison, Dublin, yesterday morning.
Prison officers stopped work for a meeting for just over 30 minutes to discuss safety concerns following the transfer to the jail of a violent inmate who has previously targeted officers.
Sources within the Prison Officers' Association (POA) denied yesterday's meeting amounted to unofficial industrial action.
Mr Purcell said the incident just after 8.30am was in breach of industrial relations protocol. "If there are any operational issues in Cloverhill Prison, or indeed any prison, they will be dealt with by the governor on an operational basis," Mr Purcell said in a statement last night.
"Wildcat industrial action is completely unacceptable and the Irish Prison Service will be reviewing its options in response to this failure to adhere to proper industrial relations procedures."
The issue of safety was raised by staff on Wednesday night when a Dublin man who had been charged with a violent crime was committed to the jail on remand.
When no extra safety measures were put in place, officers held a meeting in the prison car park yesterday morning.
Officials from the POA national executive met governor Tom Sommers and it was decided that extra staff would be deployed in the relevant area. The officers then went back to work.