Prison Officer

recruit po

Hopefully things will get moving again and the rest of the 07 lads can go in so that things will get moving for us 08 lads.

Has anyone heard how many PO's are due to retire?

th hen

hi i heard another 30 gone for fitness test in beladd this week. may or may not be true. a lot of retirements due in next year and think the ban on recruiting has been lifted. just be careful because if you are not from dublin you will be years waiting to get back to cork/midlands/castlerea etc.i got back in 4 years but i was one of the lucky ones. take it from someone in the job the job is going downhill fast and if we get anymore paycuts it wont be worth doing the job. i leave at 7am every morning and get home at 9pm. just forget about seeing your kids on you due days. if the government has their way we will work for 400 or 500 a week. is it worth it to work 14hr days and deal with everything from prisoners cutting their throats, attempted hangings, stabbing, riots, getting attacked....... dont get me wrong your not killed out working but when you are called into working expect anything. join now you will be on bout 900 a fortnight but remember you will be posted to a dublin jail for sure and rent will be 300-450 a month plus travel expense when you do go home. people give out public sector too well paid but who wants to live away from home put in 12hr+ days on fri/sat/sun and realise every year you are getting a paycut !!! also try to stay away from mountjoy. i have not worked there but from stories from friends control has been lost in the jail and its a dangerous place of work. hope this helps and does not put you off too much just trying to show you what you are in for and then ya can see if its still for you.

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recruit po

Thanks for the insight th hen, but I think all us lads that have applied know it’s a dangerous job. No one is going in with their eyes closed, it's a tough job but at the end of the day it’s a job. But thanks for the honesty of your post.

I'm fortunate enough to live in Dublin and want a Dublin jail. To those of you that are living outside Dublin, take note of what th hen says, it is tough being away from family/friends and the expense of commuting to Dublin works out very expensive. I’ve done the commuting thing, never again.

Personally I'd prefer to be earning a living of some kind, be that €400/€500 per week than living on a social welfare payment, that is likely to get cut in December’s budget. I was told last week that my job is gone after Christmas so I’ve the joy of looking forward to joining the dole queue. At least if I get into the Prison Service I know I'll have a pension at the end of it all.

th hen

oh believe me between dole nad a job you would take it in a heartbeat but the public has this view that prison officers get paid huge money and do nothing. this is not the truth. a new pay structure was brought in 4 years ago and it takes 6 or 7 years before you get on good pay. the day of a po earning 100k is gone, long gone, but you will get paid well in the future but realise pay cuts are on the way and the pension is in for a big hit also.
its a perfect job if from dublin as no travelling for you. as for danger it is dangerous but i can honestly say i never feared for my safety as most prisoners dont wanna attack officers we just get in the way breaking up fights. i just wanna highlight to anyone looking or joining dont be fooled by the public opinion that we get paid huge money and do f all. management in the priso service spend more time trying to repremand us than prisoners........ we are easier targets !!!

plas69

any news on a class before christmass. im number 36 at the moment

megranny

no new yet on a new group going is, would i be right in thinking that the group that are training at the mo is finished next week???

kilkennny

hey there megranny, ya i think your right about the group they should be finished about now alrite, i was going to ask the question has anyone rang the ips lately to see if they got funding would be great to know whats going on, can anyone shed light on it for us?

hotter

I heard the current class completed their training on friday 16/10/09

plas69

I was talking to them 2 weeks ago and they said they were waiting on word from the dept of finance to give the go ahead.Does anyone on this thread know if they're in the next class? they're taking in 40

megranny

im in the next batch well so they have told me anyway,so is killkennny. Im starting to think if we do not get in before the up coming buget,we can all give up,cos we wont be getting in after they cut EVERYTHING.

plas69

well from talkin 2 other po in the job they still short a lot more staff. dont think they have a choice but to take in another class. fingers crossed!

Scatman81

plas69 wrote: »

any news on a class before christmass. im number 36 at the moment

I was told im number 35..the last class started the 26th, 9 weeks from then brings their finish date to the week ending 1st of nov.Assuming we get 3 weeks notice we will not finish our training before xmas?They will hardly start a class and continue the training after xmas??I was confident another class would start training before xmas but now im not so sure its very frustrating:mad:

plas69

the class in at the moment are finished friday comin. its a pain after waitin so long and been so close. very frustrating alright. sit tight and see what happens

recruit po

Rang the IPS today, no news there :mad:

kilkennny

Ya i also rang them today, i was sure that they would be able to tell us something at this stage, our lives seem to be on hold at the min but sure i suppose what do you do. its maddening though.:mad:

plas69

if we knew where we stood it would nt be so bad. hope we dont have 2 wait till next year. nobody seems to know anything

Kierei18

Hello All

Im just wondering is there anyone in the same boat as me? I ranked 338 in the 2008 campaign and havent got word on a interview or medical test yet?just wondering is there anyone else like this?publicjobs wont tell anything. IS it still 2007 people going for training and that? Any info would be appreciated cheers

kilkennny

Hey kierei18
i think there is 1 or 2 that are in the same boat as you the most of us are from 2007 and we have passed the interview med and fitness the next step is trianing but like you we just dont know when that will happen the ips arent telling us anything either because they dont know they are waiting for funding and if they get it they will take another group for training and if they dont get it we will have to wait even longer:mad:

jason99

Hi Kierei18,
I'm in the same boat as you.No one from the 08 campaign has been called for interview yet.They are still using the 07 panel,but there should only be 90 or so left on that panel,so fingers crossed we wont be waiting too long.

bano12

hi all, im from the 07 recruitment and still havent been called for the fitness test. think i'll forget about it till the new year..

megranny

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR im so sick of waiting now, really did think we would hear by now on training. Im worried that if we dont get in before the budget we are in for a VERY long wait. hey killkennny how is ya?Do the IPS say anything about bringing us in?

tommy57

They have,nt a clue whats happening.Just going forget about it till next year.

Kierei18

2008 Campaign will be waiting years then so at this rate me even more if im 338 in line. what was the point in running a new campaign if they still had 2007 left to pick from. At this rate the whole prison service would need to retire for 2008 people to get in

plas69

bano12 wrote: »

hi all, im from the 07 recruitment and still havent been called for the fitness test. think i'll forget about it till the new year..

hay bano12, when did you do your interview

bano12

hey plas69, did my interview and medical the same day sometime in july 07.. still havent done my fitness test! I had forgotten about the whole thing until i stumbled across boards.ie..

plas69

bano12 wrote: »

hey plas69, did my interview and medical the same day sometime in july 07.. still havent done my fitness test! I had forgotten about the whole thing until i stumbled across boards.ie..

no harm to give the ips a bell 2 c what the story is

tommy57

going by this thread at the moment it seems that me and bano 12 are the only ones left off the 07 recruitment with no clearance yet.so it could end up that if we are cleared we,ll be put in with the 08 lads.So hopefully the 08 lads will be up soon.but if you think waiting now is hard try passing the interview, passing your med then waiting nearly 16 months just for clearance.Its a long wait even after you,ve passed your interview.

plas69

tommy57 wrote: »

going by this thread at the moment it seems that me and bano 12 are the only ones left off the 07 recruitment with no clearance yet.so it could end up that if we are cleared we,ll be put in with the 08 lads.So hopefully the 08 lads will be up soon.but if you think waiting now is hard try passing the interview, passing your med then waiting nearly 16 months just for clearance.Its a long wait even after you,ve passed your interview.

hey tommy 57, as soon as you get your clearance you will go back on the 07 panel where you were meant to be. so yu cud end up being first on the 07 panel if you are meant to be there. keep ringing them and keep pressure on them is your only hope. thats what i did. i was 32 a few weeks ago now im 36 because of late clearances. best of luck

tommy57

cheers man appreciated.