HC Deb 14 February 1917 vol 90 c654W
Mr. NUGENT

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that in April last Treasury sanction was given to a scheme for placing twisting Irish prison warders on the same pay as English warders; that the new scheme which has been put into operation in the Irish prisons service is not similar to the English scheme, but is to a largo extent based on the Scottish system, as is shown by the introduction of classes and payments on the hourly system; that, notwithstanding repeated promises by Ministers that no Irish officer would be victimised, a number of Irish officers who held special appointments under the old scheme are penalised under the new scheme to the extent of 8s. 4d. and 16s. 8d. per month; that the existing Irish warders are now only in receipt of the same pay as existing warders in England with three and four years less service; and, in consequence of the discontent and disappointment which at present exists amongst the Irish warders, will he take immediate steps to have those officers graded and paid on the same scale as those in England?

Mr. DUKE

Under the scheme which has boon put into operation, the salaries payable are, in the case of male officers, generally similar to those payable in England, and in the cases of female officers, to those paid in Scotland. The classification adopted is that which is considered by the Prisons Board most suitable to the requirements of the Irish Prisons service. As regards special appointments, it is anticipated that in most cases the substitution of working pay for allowances for special duties will work out to about an equivalent of the allowances heretofore given. Where this is not possible, the circumstances of individual cases will be specially considered. The new scales do not purport to give the salaries which warders would have been in receipt of if they had entered the service under the present improved conditions. As I have before stated, the General Prisons Board are of opinion that the new scales of pay of Irish warders would work out to the advantage of practically all of them.