Cash-based shift swapping in Irish prisons is a scandal which puts lives at risk and exposes a complete failure of basic oversight, according to Social Democrats justice spokesperson Gary Gannon.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gannon said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we learned on last night\u2019s Prime Time report was completely shocking – cash based shift-swapping in Irish prisons and an entire system that appears to be running off the books, with no records, no accountability, and no clear idea of who\u2019s even on duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s chaos disguised as normality, and it\u2019s putting people in real danger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t tell who\u2019s working in a prison at any given time, you\u2019ve already lost control of the most basic safety standards imaginable – these are high-risk environments that rely on trust, training, and proper supervision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality that shifts are being traded for cash, with apparently no sign-in or verification, is absolutely indefensible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe practice appears to be endemic and reflects a total collapse in oversight from the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrison officers deserve proper systems – the same secure, accountable rosters that Garda\u00ed have. Instead, they\u2019re being left in a system that\u2019s informal, unsafe, and wide open to abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis goes to the heart of what kind of justice system we have, because if basic safety and accountability don\u2019t exist inside our prisons, how can the public have any faith in the system as a whole?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe desperately need to take a hard look at how we run our prisons, the purpose they serve, and how we can build a system based on safety, rehabilitation and accountability over secrecy and vacuums of responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 17th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cash-based shift swapping in Irish prisons is a scandal which puts lives at risk and exposes a complete failure of basic oversight, according to Social Democrats justice spokesperson Gary Gannon. Deputy Gannon said: \u201cWhat we learned on last night\u2019s Prime Time report was completely shocking – cash based shift-swapping in Irish prisons and an entire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,411,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gary-gannon","category-justice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n