Ms Caron McCaffrey:

Could I just say, on a exceptional basis and given the nature of the injuries that our staff can sustain while on duty, we went to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in 2015 and were given permission to introduce a special scheme which only applies to prison officers. It is a serious physical assault scheme and relates to people who are seriously injured on duty. Ordinarily if staff are injured on duty, they are entitled to six months' sick leave on full pay and six months on half pay but under this scheme, they are entitled to 12 months' sick leave on full pay. This is now forming part of a review of occupational injury and disease and their treatment within the Civil Service. That review is being undertaken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We are playing a very full and active part in that review because we recognise the specific issues facing some of our staff.