§ MR. SHEEHY (Meath, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the average number of working hours performed weekly by the English prison warders, whose salaries have been increased to £70, £80, and £90 per year from the beginning of the next financial year; if he will state the average number of working hours performed weekly by the Irish prison warders, exclusive of Mountjoy and Maryborough prisons; and whether it is the intention of the Government to increase the salaries of the Irish prison warders from £50 to £60 per year to the same standard as the English prison warders, seeing that the Irish prison warders have to perform as hard and laborious duties as those of the English.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The General Prisons Board for Ireland have no knowledge of the number of hours of duty of English prison warders. The average number of hours of duty of 534 warders in Irish local prisons varies according to the circumstances of the different prisons, but generally may be taken to be from sixty-three to sixty-eight hours a week. The salaries quoted in the Question are not properly comparable, those for England being apparently maximum salaries, and those for Ireland the minimum. The question of the salaries of Irish prison warders will shortly come up for consideration.