Around 5% of all prison staff will be subject to random tests for illegal drugs each year under a new scheme being introduced by the Irish Prison Service.
The IPS has published a tender seeking to award a contract to a company to carry out illicit substance testing across the country’s 12 adult prisons.
The winning bidder has been informed that it will be required to carry out approximately 200 tests on staff in prisons per annum.
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In addition, it is envisaged that 200 tests will be carried out annually on people who have applied to work with the IPS.
There will also be around 100 “reactive” tests conducted each year where testers will be required to attend prisons within 90 minutes of being called to carry out checks.
The tender did not specify which drugs will be tested for and if they will include alcohol.
The latest figures show around 3,295 people work in the country’s 10 closed prisons and two open prisons.
The IPS said drug testing will be carried out according to Legally Defensible Workplace Drug Testing Standards which are set by the European Workplace Drug Testing Society for prison staff.
The checks for illegal drugs use will be carried out by testing samples of either hair or urine collected from prison staff.
The winning contractor must also provide training to all prison management and staff about the new drug testing regime.
The contract is being awarded for a period of four years with the possible extension of two further 12-month periods.
The proposals to carry out random drug testing on prison staff was proposed as part of pay talks between the IPS and trade union representatives last year.
Both sides acknowledged that there were valid concerns that prison staff who used illegal drugs could also be providing the same substance to prisoners.
There were record levels of drug seizures in Irish prisons in recent years with an average of over 1,200 detections of illegal substances per annum with three prisons – Wheatfield, Mountjoy and Cloverhill – accounting for approximately three-quarters of all seizures.
Similar plans to introduce mandatory drug testing of gardaí as well as the force’s civilian staff, which have been strongly supported by the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, have been delayed as a result of concerns voiced by Garda representative bodies.
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