diff --git a/Script/cs/StorageBackends/eosstorage.py b/Script/cs/StorageBackends/eosstorage.py
index 33f4b172b5b00fc77084cd65c1fe34d74cc435f6..c65ed82a55754edb85098977a7327c22acbde060 100644
--- a/Script/cs/StorageBackends/eosstorage.py
+++ b/Script/cs/StorageBackends/eosstorage.py
@@ -87,7 +87,11 @@ def backgroundcopy(srcfile, dstfile, stager, logger=None):
     del logger #unused args
 
     dstfile = 'root://%s/%s' % (stager, dstfile)
-    cmd = ['xrdcp', '-f', '--nopbar', srcfile, dstfile]
+
+    cmd = []
+    if 'IONICE_PRIO' in config_dict:
+        cmd += ['ionice', '-n', config_dict['IONICE_PRIO']]
+    cmd += ['xrdcp', '-f', '--nopbar', srcfile, dstfile]
 
     try:
         cmd.append(config_dict['copy_extra_params'])