However, Oberstown director Damien Hernon said the industrial action \u201chas the potential to lead to more risk\u201d at the centre.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, he urged workers to \u201cstep this down\u201d so resolutions can be progressed as he further warned relationships between staff at Oberstown could \u201cbecome irreversibly damaged\u201d.<\/p>\n
F\u00f3rsa union members have backed industrial action up to and including a full withdrawal of labour, with the union saying workers have previously reported \u201cassaults on staff and injuries requiring hospital treatment in circumstances where staffing levels were stretched\u201d.<\/p>\n
F\u00f3rsa said safe staffing in Oberstown remains a concern for its members employed there.<\/p>\n
Oberstown said it and the Department of Children had engaged \u201cextensively\u201d with staff representatives, including through the Workplace Relations Commission.<\/p>\n
The facility said it remains \u201cfully committed to working constructively towards a resolution\u201d and had taken a \u201cproactive approach to strengthening frontline staffing\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787529437_854_.png\")
\n F\u00f3rsa spokesman Niall Shanahan (Niall Carson \/ PA)<\/p>\n
F\u00f3rsa spokesman Niall Shanahan (Niall Carson \/ PA) \/ PA)\n<\/p>\n
F\u00f3rsa\u2019s media relations director Niall Shanahan told the Press Association that it was the union\u2019s view that \u201csafety has been compromised\u201d by issues around recruitment, retention and capacity at the facility.<\/p>\n
Oberstown challenged the union\u2019s depiction of staffing issues, pointing to the recruitment of 23 frontline staff over the last year \u2013 and an overall net increase of nine frontline workers over the same period.<\/p>\n
It said recorded campus incidents have reduced by 29% year-to-date compared with 2025, with \u201clow-level physical interventions\u201d reducing by 40% at the same time.<\/p>\n
Hernon, who has been in his role for almost six years, said the facility compared favourably with other detention centres in Ireland and Europe.<\/p>\n
He told RT\u00c9\u2019s This Week: \u201cThe actions being imposed on us through the dispute have the potential to lead to more risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if this dispute is about health and safety, and it\u2019s about recruitment and retention \u2013 Oberstown health and safety data is out the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said its recorded interventions included low-level incidents of taking a child by the hand to lead them to a place of safety.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787529438_130_.png\")
\n F\u00f3rsa staff from Oberstown Children Detention Campus on the picket line outside the Department of Children (Niall Carson\/PA)\n<\/p>\n
Hernon added: \u201cI\u2019d be seeking a ceasefire, I would be urging everybody to step this down to allow us to progress the matters that we feel can be progressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there are some issues around parity that I believe we could move on, but in order for that to happen there needs to be a ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hernon said safety was a \u201cpriority\u201d and added that the Oberstown \u201cenvironment is superb in managing that\u201d.<\/p>\n
Oberstown was allocated more than \u20ac2.1 million in additional funding to address recruitment issues, and it is understood there is a view within the department that staffing is sufficient.<\/p>\n
There has been a spotlight on how the State detains children on remand and post-conviction amid renewed focus on teenage \u2018joyriding\u2019, burglaries and other criminal behaviour often shared on social media.<\/p>\n
Oberstown consistently runs close to capacity and this has reportedly led to incidents where youths in conflict with the law have been released on bail rather than being detained.<\/p>\n
The facility has seen an increased demand to accommodate boys in recent years.<\/p>\n
Part of the increased demand on Oberstown is understood to relate to teenage boys participating in \u2018joyriding\u2019 activities.<\/p>\n
At the start of 2026, it had a capacity for 40 boys and six girls.<\/p>\n
In February, Children\u2019s Minister Norma Foley announced she would be changing that breakdown to 44 boys and two girls during the remainder of the year \u2013 starting with a move to a 42-four split in March.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Hernon said it only had one male room available and went 127 days at capacity last year.<\/p>\n
However, he said there had been no referrals refused since before June and that Oberstown can negotiate with the department to temporarily increase its licence when there is an emergent need.<\/p>\n
Hernon said the State needed to look at the principle of \u201cearly intervention\u201d for children and alternatives to detention such as the bail supervision scheme and community sanctions.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe have to ask questions around remand, the use of remand, what\u2019s it for?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other options available in legislation that are currently not available to judges because they haven\u2019t been developed or they haven\u2019t been executed \u2013 so those alternatives to detention require a broader youth justice approach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE DIRECTOR OF Oberstown Children Detention Campus has called for a \u201cceasefire\u201d in an ongoing industrial relations dispute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,275968,275969,275970,18,13,14,13265,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,22481,81207,275971,7,8],"class_list":["post-653011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-children-detention","tag-children-detention-centre","tag-department-of-children","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-forsa","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-norma-foley","tag-oberstown","tag-staffing-dispute","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117147536948062422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}