Prison Officer

480905

Garryd wrote: »

Well lads.... Its looking like bad news for us all isnt it? But hopefully with all these retirements from the pension levy etc. some of us waiting to be called might still be required to train, as the prison service does require a minimum number of staff to run it. Theres supposedly 25 starting in june. Does anybody know what will happen to these? Will they get to do their training?

If you have received a letter saying you are being called for training and received a start date then you are not affected,AFAIK. If you haven't then you are out of luck.

Garryd

By out of luck do you mean ot of luck till 2010 or totally out of luck?

cmc2009

Has anyone rang up to find out any more info.

katb42

Hi im new to this but I rang them and they said that anybody that is already on the panel will still be called forward when ever the ban is lifted so at least we know that we havn't wasted our time.

Garryd

Well at least thats something. Im sure that we all have worked really hard to get this far. Thank god it all hasnt been a complete waste. Better late than never i guess. Spose we just have to hang in there....

dropsey

The people that retire this year will have to be replaced. For health and safety and security reasons the ratio of prisoners to officers has to remain at safe level. If the budget hits public service again there will be arush of early retirements to preserve there pensions at existing level. The new wing at portlaoise will have to be staffed. I predict anyone that has pased stage three will be jobbed later in year. The doom and gloom is over cooked !!

Sisu200

I agree about the ratio of officer/prisioner, I have a close family member in the prision service, he told me today that even though there is a freeze/restriction, they still need to put recruits through the system because there is such a rush for existing officers wanting to retire before there is any impact to their pension, the officers that are left are been asked to work alot of extra overtime to cover the reduction in serving officers that eventually there will be a shortage, and they will be forced to begin recruiting, it could come quicker than everyone thinks, hopefully,

Garryd

Thats what ive been hoping too. There are 25 recruits starting in june i believe. They were sent their training date before this freeze was announced and the finance minister still has to sign off on those 25. If anyone got a date for june could ye put up a post and let us know if ye are definatly going to beladd house or what

katb42

bubbles1983 wrote: »

Has onyone that did their physical on the 6th of march get a start date for their training?

Hi I did mine on the 6th of March but have not got a start date yet!
I got a letter saying that I was on the panel in which future vacancies arising will be picked. I think that we will be waiting for probably another two years with the freeze on recruitment! Did anybody else do their physical around the same time? and did they get a start date?

480905

Garryd wrote: »

By out of luck do you mean ot of luck till 2010 or totally out of luck?

Thats a question that nobody can answer. I've been asking people that should know but they seem to be in the dark as much as anybody. There is a contractual issue with the course provider in Sligo,in that they have been contracted to provide a certain number of courses for the training centre and they still a number of courses to provide so that may be a way in for some people.

katb42

Well if that is the case then maybe some of the people that are at the top of the queue may get a start date. At least our names are still kept on the panel and we will still called forward after the ban. It will mean more waiting but at least our names are not scratched of the panel.

bubbles1983

hi all!!! Anyone that got a letter stating the passed the pct test are better off ringing the ips and askin what number you are on the panel. because i ave dropped alot since i was given i rand in jan to ask the same question!!!

katb42

bubbles1983 wrote: »

hi all!!! Anyone that got a letter stating the passed the pct test are better off ringing the ips and askin what number you are on the panel. because i ave dropped alot since i was given i rand in jan to ask the same question!!!

I rang them the other day and the woman that I was talking to would not tell me what number that I am on the panel!!!

lifers

Garryd wrote: »

Thats what ive been hoping too. There are 25 recruits starting in june i believe. They were sent their training date before this freeze was announced and the finance minister still has to sign off on those 25. If anyone got a date for june could ye put up a post and let us know if ye are definatly going to beladd house or what

I Garry,
I have a start date for 15th June. I rang IPS on Wed 1st April and they could not confirm that it will go ahead. They said to ring again in 1 or 2 weeks and they should know more....

Garryd

Its crazy. I am now down to number 45 on the list and am hoping and preying that they keep recruiting us. Im going to be pesimistic about it at the mo though. They really should get their story straight and tell every one the same thing, cause theres 3 or 4 different stories goin on here and its confusing everyone.

blanchlad

i rang up today and im number 60 in the list.and if theyr taking 25 in june presumabley im up to 35 then. but the man in the IPS that i was talking to said that the freeze on recruitment affects prison service aswel and could take up to 2 years before it begins again.i asked would i still be on the waiting list then and he said possibly not that they might begin a totally new drive. this is a load of s**t cos there are lots of ppl like myself who have been waiting since 2007 and have done medicals and physicals. i hope this all gets sorted out soon cos its fu**ing annoying and frustrating on evry1. i hope loads of ppl take early retirement and the IPS are forced to do sumtn about it.

katb42

Yes that is f ucking s hit because I have been waiting for two years as well and it's not fair to put us through everything and then when we get to the top of the list we have to do it again. I dont mind waiting another two years but I would not even bother applying again to do the whole process all over again. :mad: Also how does everyone know what number they are on the list as I rang up last week and they would not tell me what number I am.

cmc2009

They could hardly run a whole camp again. Sure they are supposed to be trying to save money. I'll get it put on the radio and in the paper. Make a show off them I'm that pissed off about it. Cause I'm well up the list to be called.

Scatman81

Well how is this early retirement scheme in the budget going to affect us?Im sure more Officers will want to retire but will they be replaced?this could be good for us??

katb42

I just heard on the Budget that they are not replacing existing officers that are retiring except under 'exceptional circumstances' so it looks like we will never get in to training. That is really unfair after passing every test over the past two years.

Scatman81

Katb your very pessimistic!!:Dif u have 500 plus officers wanting to retire they have to replace them simple as.This is on top of the number that were expected to retire before the scheme was announced i think this is good news

katb42

I know I have to remain pessimistic as at least then I cannot be dissappointed if we dont get called for training, but I rang the IPS and spoke to a man there who said that I was no 42 on the list and he said that there are no plans to take our names off the panel so it just means that we will have to wait for a bit longer so now I am feeling more optimistic!!

Scatman81

Im number 70 but i aint worried cause im heading to Oz next month until im called,dont think ill get a tan in prison:D

Garryd

Its so true for you scatman. This is good news for us. The prison service isnt something that can be run on a skeleton staff and a lack of prison officers seems to me like "exceptional circumstances". Heres hoping lads and ladies that at long last we might be called. I can understand some of us being pesimistic about it all and probably am a bit myself but still...

Scatman81

The numbers that people are waiting to be trained at are fairly low id say im the farthest back at 70 that ive seen on this thread and thats not a whole lot of people when you think about it.All we can do is wait and see if the people who are called for june get the go ahead so keep posting info those people!

katb42

The man that I was talking today said that my no could drop because they go by the number that you are after the aptitute test so if anyone in the mean time does a physical that have a higher no than me they will be called first so we cant really go by the no that we are on the list already!!

dropsey

katb42 wrote: »

The man that I was talking today said that my no could drop because they go by the number that you are after the aptitute test so if anyone in the mean time does a physical that have a higher no than me they will be called first so we cant really go by the no that we are on the list already!!

this information is incorrect. the apptitude test is a basic test and has to be passed.the higher you finish on this test the sooner u get interview.
Stage two is the crucial part of selection . U can be passed and failed at this stage. If u pass interview the interview board give you a number on panel for the batch that is interviewed. if 50 are interviewed you can move from 50th to one .this mean you wil be first one to be jobbed from this batch. you cannot lose this position.

Garryd

your 99% there.When I rang around the start of December they told me that i was something like number 62, but there was still people from the 07 campaign left to be interviewed and pct ed. When they finished all the 07 people, i had dropped about 10 places. Now I am at number 45 and according as people are called this will drop down.

dropsey

Garryd wrote: »

your 99% there.When I rang around the start of December they told me that i was something like number 62, but there was still people from the 07 campaign left to be interviewed and pct ed. When they finished all the 07 people, i had dropped about 10 places. Now I am at number 45 and according as people are called this will drop down.

well i hope with early retirement scheme the panel will start moving soon. I am in the sixtys in panel .hopefully the 25 called in june will start training and the panel will start moving.

katb42

Has everybody from the 07 campaign done their interview and pct?