Mr. Brian Purcell:

A core element in how the new arrangement was structured was the prison by prison review of every task that had to be done and every element of the staff resource required to perform a particular task. This review formed the basis of the negotiations that followed with the staff association. What enabled the delivery of the service was an agreed change in the structures and levels of staffing required to run a prison. That is what facilitated the delivery of the same service without the equivalent level of overtime and at a saving of €30 million per annum.

In many ways, this agreement was the forerunner of the Irish Prison Service's engagement with the Croke Park agreement. One of the benefits of having gone through that process, difficult as it was, is that it gave the service a template for future efficiency improvements. That mechanism or engagement has been adopted by the service in its consultations and negotiations with the Prison Officers Association in respect of the savings required to be made under the Croke Park agreement. It is one of the reasons the service has been very much to the forefront in meeting these requirements

Consequently, a distinct advantage was gained from that experience as a pointer or mechanism for looking at how one did things and realising and understanding that with a positive level of engagement on all sides between management and staff, one could do things in a better way. One can deliver significant reforms and this is precisely what has been happening under the Croke Park agreement. This is what has enabled one significant achievement that the Irish Prison Service and the Prison Officers Association have been able to deliver.

There has been a massive rise in the number of prisoners entering the system. For example, there has been a rise of approximately 30% in the numbers in custody since 2005 when the proposal for organisational change was introduced. As for the total numbers in the system, the increase probably is closer to 35%, while there have been increases of 28% and 25% in the numbers of committals and those in custody since 2008. From 2008 the Irish Prison Service and the members of the Prison Officers Association who are the staff of the aforementioned service have been obliged to deal with increases in numbers of roughly 25% in custody and perhaps 30% in the entire system, but at the same time they have been able to do this with roughly 10% fewer staff. This is how one achieves reform in the context of agreements such as the Croke Park agreement. This is how one achieves reform in the public service. It is also how one achieves it - I do not state this without difficulty because it is an extremely difficult process - in consultation and negotiations with the staff associations.