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THE GENERAL SECRETARY of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has defended the planned withdrawal of ‘goodwill’ duties over what he says is a lack of clarity about when staff will be vaccinated against Covid-19.
John Clinton said the union has contacted the government about the vaccine rollout on a number of occasions since last December, but has received no reply to their queries.
He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that prison staff were “not asking for anything above the ordinary” and were simply seeking access to the State’s vaccine reserve list.
“We’ve been working in the thick of this since the commencement of [the pandemic],” he said.
“We’ve been asking since December and nobody will answer the question for us. We’re simply asking the question: where are we on that list? Are we on it? Will we have access to the reserve list? And can we have a small cohort of staff done?”
Clinton said that the union understood that other sectors were also seeking to be vaccinated on the basis of their work, but pointed out that unlike other professions, prison staff occasionally had to bring people into Covid-19 wards in hospitals.
“We are the only ones who have been put in that environment since the vaccination programme began, and that’s just not acceptable to us,” he added.
Last week, the union issued a statement to its members saying it was set to begin a “withdrawal of goodwill” over the lack of clarity about when prison officers would be vaccinated.
Officers had been prioritised on the former list, but this is no longer the case on the age-based system announced by health officials a number of weeks ago.
A letter issued to union members called on officers to adhere strictly to their duties in Irish prisons.
Clinton explained that this could impact extra work done by prison officers, as well as the re-opening of prison schools and workshops which have been closed during the pandemic.
Phew….thank god. I forgot to do it again.
@James Fox: same. I’ll see you here next week!
@James Fox: is 1 million not enough for you??
I bought a ticket ’cause if you’re not in, you can’t win. Loads more money for the Canadian pension fund.
@Ann Neylan: Ann, I long ago adopted the mantra “If you’re not in, you can’t lose” in relation to the lotto.
This current hype is a very well run marketing campaign.
I do hope that the lottery eventually comes under the very close scrutiny that it deserves some day.
One of the worst forms of gambling in Ireland yet is ignored when any serious debate is conducted on that subject.
I won €3 but somehow that’s not newsworthy
Why is it capped at just over €19m – surely a nice round €20m would be better from a marketing pov?
@LaoisWeather: I guess at some point mathematically you risk having the opportunity to run enough combinations of numbers to make the odds of winning much better and the prize available worth in investment?
The winner has been the Lotto.
Meanwhile private operators stuff pockets as jackpot capped at present pool . It should all be going to worthy causes .
I won a tenner but looking at 5 numbers and 5 plus 1 no way did they redistribute the excess!! Load of bull hunky.
Canadian pensions doing great
Tax on the poor
have your say