Children were locked in bedrooms for hours on end at weekends due to “critically low staffing levels” at the Oberstown child detention campus, a Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspection has found.
At the same time the centre, which accommodates children convicted of crimes or remanded pending trial, is under “pressure to increase capacity” due to “ongoing demand” from the courts.
“Staff and managers at all levels were clear that increasing capacity in the service would negatively impact the quality of care the young people receive,” said the watchdog’s report on the north Co Dublin centre, published on Friday.
Oberstown is licensed to detain 46 children – 40 boys and six girls. At the time of the annual inspection, conducted over three days in November 2025, there were 41 young people – 40 boys and one girl.
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“The inspection found that Oberstown provided a safe and secure environment for the young people detained there ... in general, young people were positive about the care they received,” the report said.
They spoke highly of staff, described as “caring” and “sound”, and the adolescents said they felt “safe” and enjoyed school and hobbies.
However, they “expressed a mix of understanding and frustration” at experiencing what is known as “single separation”, where they are locked in their bedrooms when staffing levels are too low to provide safe cover.
“Young people told inspectors that there were times when they could not leave their bedrooms until 11 or noon at the weekends.” This had happened on at least 10 occasions in the previous 12 months.
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Management told Hiqa they were “reliant on existing staff working overtime to fill gaps on the roster”.
As of September 30th, 2025, there were 116 residential unit staff. However, only 85 were available to work, with others off on long-term leave including sick leave, assault and injury leave, parental leave and career break leave.
Inadequate staffing was also found in Hiqa inspections in 2023 and 2024. Then management had outlined plans to address staffing issues.
In the year to November 2025 a total of 34 new staff were recruited.
“It is of note, that information provided to inspectors identified that 18 staff resigned and eight staff retired in the same period,” meaning a net gain of eight staff.
“Despite efforts ongoing, significant challenges remained in ensuring that there were sufficient staffing levels at all times. In light of this, and indeed generally the ongoing recruitment challenges across the social care sector, it is crucial that Oberstown develops a strategic workforce plan as a priority,” said the report.
Oberstown has faced “persistent high occupancy levels” and increasing numbers of young people “with complex needs requiring increased levels of staffing,” the report said.
Other issues included inconsistent quality of record-keeping on young people’s files, delays in reporting child-safeguarding issues to Tusla, and overdue Garda vetting renewals for four staff.
The centre, managed under the auspices of the Department of Children, was found to be compliant with two of the five rules Hiqa inspected, substantially compliant with one and not compliant with two.
