§ MR. HAVILAND BURKE (King's County, Tullamore)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland why the warders of His Majesty's prison in Tullamore have not been allowed the Saturday and Sunday half-day off-duty granted by the Prisons Board; why, when one warder was ill and another on leave, the governor allowed a warder to be transferred to Galway Gaol on temporary duty for the supervision of defendants in the late agrarian prosecutions, with the result that for three weeks the warders were doing sixteen hours duty per day; and whether he is aware that one of them resigned by way of protest against this treatment.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) Saturday and Sunday half-holidays are not granted to prison warders as of right, but are given when the requirements of the service permit. The Saturday half-holiday was partially suspended in Tullamore Prison during July, and the Sunday half-holiday was partially suspended on one Sunday in that month. The Prisons Board are satisfied that such suspension was necessary. It is not the case that any of the warders performed sixteen hours duty on any day. Thirteen hours was the maximum, and that occurred on one or two occasions only, when unavoidable. One warder has resigned, but not for the reason stated.