Prison officers are not getting the protection they need to carry out their jobs in safety, the POA president, Mr Frank O'Donnell, told the union's annual conference yesterday.
Mr O'Donnell said he had highlighted the "ever-increasing" problem of disruptive prisoners at last year's conference but nothing had changed. A growing number of violent incidents had been perpetrated against prison officers by a "hard core of individuals".
There had been cases of prison officers being held hostage, assaulted with syringes, slashed across the face with blades and intimidated.
The POA had presented a strategy document to the Department of Justice in January last year, calling for the removal of seriously disruptive prisoners.
Yet the separation unit at Mountjoy prison had been closed this year, while the segregation unit at the new midlands prison in Portlaoise had yet to be opened, he said.
