Furious prison officers are refusing to cooperate with a new RTE documentary by Dublin GAA star Philly McMahon and Rory O' Connor of Rory's Stories at Mountjoy prison.
They are angry with the way they are being portrayed during filming and feel far too much air time is being given to the grievances of prisoners.
In the past 24 hours relations got so bad that the Mountjoy branch of the Irish Prison Officers Association issued a directive for all members not to have anything to do with the project.
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It stated: "Owing to recent events surrounding the RTE documentary film crew taking place, we the Mountjoy Branch is hereby issuing a directive to all members to not engage with the RTE documentary currently underway, this includes all volunteering to take part in said documentary and the scheduled football match. "
RTE were given special permission to film inside the jail by the Mountjoy governor Edward Mullins and the former Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.
They wanted to show life inside the jail and how Ballymun native and All-Ireland legend McMahon was helping to rehabilitate through sports prisoners whose lives had been ruined by drug addiction.
Comedian O'Connor is also heavily involved in the project which is supposed to reach a climax with a friendly GAA football match between the prisoners and prison wardens possibly at Croke Park.
However the Prison Officers now want to boycott the match.
It is understood that they are particularly annoyed with the tone of a sketch carried out with an individual wearing a prison officer's uniform and going to see prisoners in one of the cells.
It ended up with the keys being left inside the cell.
A prison source said: "We are not happy with the way our job is being portrayed. The documentary seems to be all about the plight of the prisoners even though many of them have committed some awful crimes.
"There is no mention of the crime victims or the hurt and pain they suffered. It is nearly as if they are the good guys and we, the prison staff, are the bad guys.
"We have asked all members not to have anything to do with the Gaelic football match or any future filming of this programme."
The Prison Officers Association said it has sought a meeting with the Director General of the Irish Prison Service to discuss the documentary.
The TV series is due to be screened by RTE in Autumn next year and to run for several weeks.
It would also be the first time that Mountjoy prisoners would have their own Gaelic team.
it is understood that the offending footage is not going to be used in the documentary.
The Governor of Mountjoy ordered it to be deleted after he heard of the staff complaints.
The material involved was filmed as specific comedy sketches and was never intended to be included in the RTE documentary, insiders say.
A source said: "We are disappointed that the prison officers got upset and have withdrawn their co-operation. The film team never intended to upset anybody. There were a few comedy Rory Stories scenes recorded but they were only ever going to be shown to the prisoners, nobody else.
"The only people losing out from the Prison Officers directive are the 15 lads due to play a game in Croke Park, which is a great pity.
"RTE filmed for the last ten weeks in Mountjoy and there had been no issue up until now. We hope the prison officers change their mind and take part in the GAA match against the prisoners."
The Irish Prison Service does not comment on internal industrial relations issues.
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