Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are all on the same page in respect of that. The issue raised with me is that the Prison Service is finding it very difficult to recruit and retain specialist psychiatric nurses, psychologists and other mental health professionals. The pension entitlements for everyone working in the Prison Service used to be calculated on a 30-year basis. Staff were entitled to their pension after 30 years which attracted people into the service because in most other public sector areas, they would have to wait until they had 40 years' service. That was changed during the economic crisis but it should be re-examined now. It would make the Prison Service a more attractive place to work for people with certain specialist skills. A prison is a very intense place to work and it can be difficult to deal with people who are in prison because they have committed some crime but who are really there because of the failure of other services in their past or in their early lives. Such failures led to them ending up in prison, in a traumatic situation, and they need to have their mental health issues dealt with appropriately.

See this speech in context