Two prison officers were treated in hospital today after they were allegedly assaulted by prisoners in the exercise yard of Cloverhill prison in Dublin.
A male and a female officer were beaten after they tried to retrieve a package thrown over the wall of the yard, the Irish Prison Officers Association (IPOA) said.
Mr Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the IPOA, told ireland.comthe incident occurred at around 2.40 p.m. when a "suspicious package" was thrown over the wall.
The male prison officer attempted to retrieve it and was "set upon, assaulted and beaten about the body and head" by prisoners.
The female officer went to his aid and she was struck and knocked unconscious, Mr Dennehy said.
Both officers were taken to Tallaght hospital where they are believed to be still receiving treatment this evening.
A third officer was also allegedly assaulted as four prisoners were being removed from the yard after the incident.
Mr Dennehy said today's events followed another serious assault on a prison officer at Cloverhill on November 16th, when the officer also tried to retrieve a package thrown over the wall.
In another incident, four packages were thrown over the wall on November 22nd, but were not retrieved by officers, he added.
Mr Dennehy said his association and his members were "extremely alarmed" at the situation and that the latest incident sent out a serious message about drugs in prisons.
He said the situation needed to be viewed seriously or that there would be "mob law" in prisons.
"The safety of our members is an absolute priority and measures must now be taken to deal with this," he said.
Mr Dennehy said the two prison officers allegedly assaulted today had been supervising 83 prisoners and that current plans for cutbacks would reduce this ratio.
He said the message needed to be sent out that there was no acceptable level of assaults on prison officers and no acceptable level of drugs in prisons. The IPOA official claimed recent figures showed the number of assaults on prison officers had increased by 60 per cent in the last four years.