Mr. Brian Purcell:

I would have to see the exact breakdown, but some of the allowances have been there for long periods. For example, the rent allowance has been there almost from the foundation of the Irish Prison Service in the early days of the State. Mr. Donnellan covered that. That was paid out because at one stage, staff in both the Irish Prison Service and the Garda were required to live close to the prison. Those types of allowance stretch back right to the foundation of the Irish Prison Service. Other allowances would certainly have come about in much more recent times. We could give the Deputy the exact breakdown. Some of those figures may have been given in respect of the dates they came in on. The figures we sent to the committee list when the various allowances came into payment. They would have come into payment following consideration through the various mechanisms that were there. Claims would have been made by the staff side and would have been discussed, for example, at the general council, and decisions would then have been taken either to award claims or not to award them.

Other allowances, such as the proposal for organisational change, which Mr. Donnellan described and which came about in 2005, were introduced following a lengthy consultation and negotiation process. As Mr. Donnellan indicated, that was brought in for a specific purpose, namely, to eliminate the payment of overtime in the Irish Prison Service. The allowances came about in a variety of ways down through the years. At the moment, most claims travel through the conciliation and arbitration scheme.