The director of Oberstown Children Detention Campus has called for a “ceasefire” in an ongoing industrial relations dispute with staff.
The State’s only child-detention facility is engaged in an industrial relations dispute with its employees over concerns about safe staffing levels.
However, Oberstown director Damien Hernon said the industrial action “has the potential to lead to more risk” at the centre.
On Sunday, he urged workers to “step this down” so resolutions can be progressed as he further warned relationships between staff at Oberstown could “become irreversibly damaged”.
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Fórsa union members have backed industrial action up to and including a full withdrawal of labour, with the union saying workers have previously reported “assaults on staff and injuries requiring hospital treatment in circumstances where staffing levels were stretched”.
Fórsa said safe staffing in Oberstown remains a concern for its members employed there.
Oberstown said it and the Department of Children had engaged “extensively” with staff representatives, including through the Workplace Relations Commission.
The facility said it remains “fully committed to working constructively towards a resolution” and had taken a “proactive approach to strengthening frontline staffing”.
[ Oberstown ‘running on fumes for years’, says care worker striking over staffingOpens in new window ]
Fórsa’s media relations director Niall Shanahan said it was the union’s view that “safety has been compromised” by issues around recruitment, retention and capacity at the facility.
Oberstown challenged the union’s depiction of staffing issues, pointing to the recruitment of 23 frontline staff over the last year – and an overall net increase of nine frontline workers over the same period.
It said recorded campus incidents have reduced by 29% year-to-date compared with 2025, with “low-level physical interventions” reducing by 40 per cent at the same time.
Hernon, who has been in his role for almost six years, said the facility compared favourably with other detention centres in Ireland and Europe.
He told RTÉ’s This Week: “The actions being imposed on us through the dispute have the potential to lead to more risk.
“So, if this dispute is about health and safety, and it’s about recruitment and retention – Oberstown health and safety data is out the gap.”
He said its recorded interventions included low-level incidents of taking a child by the hand to lead them to a place of safety.
Hernon added: “I’d 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.
“Because there are some issues a€round parity that I believe we could move on, but in order for that to happen there needs to be a ceasefire.”
Hernon said safety was a “priority” and added that the Oberstown “environment is superb in managing that”.
Oberstown was allocated more than €2.1 million in additional funding to address recruitment issues, and it is understood there is a view within the department that staffing is sufficient.
There has been a spotlight on how the State detains children on remand and post-conviction amid renewed focus on teenage joyriding, burglaries and other criminal behaviour often shared on social media.
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.
The facility has seen an increased demand to accommodate boys in recent years.
Part of the increased demand on Oberstown is understood to relate to teenage boys participating in joyriding activities.
At the start of 2026, it had a capacity for 40 boys and six girls.
In February, Minister for Children Norma Foley announced she would be changing that breakdown to 44 boys and two girls during the remainder of the year – starting with a move to a 42-four split in March.
On Sunday, Hernon said it only had one male room available and went 127 days at capacity last year.
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.
Hernon said the State needed to look at the principle of “early intervention” for children and alternatives to detention such as the bail supervision scheme and community sanctions.
He added: “We have to ask questions around remand, the use of remand, what’s it for?
“There are other options available in legislation that are currently not available to judges because they haven’t been developed or they haven’t been executed – so those alternatives to detention require a broader youth justice approach.” - PA
