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AN INSPECTION OF the controversial child detention facility at Oberstown by health watchdog HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) has found that the centre failed to meet nine out of the 10 standards by which it was evaluated.
The facility has been criticised for several incidents, including one in which a boy was placed in ‘single separation’ for a period of 27 hours over the course of three days.
The report found that instances of single separation were not consistently authorised or documented.
The pre-announced inspection was carried out over four days last November at the facility in north Dublin.
At that time 47 boys and one girl between the ages of 10 and 17 were resident at the centre.
All told, the centre failed to meet nine out of the 10 standards by which it was measured.
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Seven of those standards were deemed to ‘require improvement’, while two, that of premises, safety, and security, and staffing and management, were found to pose a ‘significant risk’.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson for children and youth affairs Anne Rabbitte today called for the deficits noted by HIQA at Oberstown to be addressed by children’s minister Katherine Zappone.
“There are still significant trust issues between management and staff at the facility,” she said.
An especially worrying finding in this report is that that the facility has to frequently be put on lock down – with children confined to their rooms – due to staffing shortages.
Meanwhile, children’s ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon has declared the HIQA findings to be “not good enough”.
“The impact of staff shortages is abundantly clear throughout this report. While it is evident that the staff in place are doing a very good job with the resources available, it is clear that shortages are making it more difficult to build relationships with children,” Muldoon said.
It is still not good enough that the facility was found wanting in nine out of ten areas.
Oberstown is a state of the art facility and a massive improvement on St Pat’s, an unsuitable campus which the Ombudsman for Children Office campaigned long and hard to see closed. We must see significant improvement across all of these areas in Oberstown.
Oberstown has been the scene of a number of days of industrial action in recent times over safety concerns concerning staff.
Those strike actions have been based on ‘management’s refusal to refusal to adequately address serious health and safety concerns highlighted by workers’ according to union Siptu.
Yesterday, Siptu announced once again notice of pending industrial action following staff’s decision to reject recommendations from the Workplace Relations Commission regarding health and safety at Oberstown.
“Our members are at daily risk of serious injury,” said union spokesman Ray Stanley.
They have on numerous occasions over the last 15 months, along with their colleagues in Impact, raised concerns regarding health and safety issues with management.
These concerns have not been adequately addressed. This situation must change so that a positive solution can be found for the workers and the young people they care for.
HIQA’s report can be read here.
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Genuine question, is there anywhere else that allows comments on Irish stories?
Reddit Ireland or Boards.ie seem to be the only ones. Alot if people want to know real opinions on stories. The journal clearly is abandoning comments.
@:Hahaha,real opinions, coming from the likes of you is it,hahaha. I’ve never seen more deluded muppets on any Web site more than I have in my short time here.
Children’s hospitals in Ireland not as busy as children’s hospitals in Gaza, thankfully!:
@: who cares about comments?? Write a a letter to the editor like we used to do. What a snowflake. What an entitled, privileged fck.
@Tom Dillon: @Tom Dillon: tom trolled me. Therefore I am trolling you back tom. Good luck making a comment on any article in the next week. You state: ‘who cares about comments’, yet you are commenting on multiple posts within a short space of time. I comment once every 2 weeks, however for the next week I will be commenting on every one of your posts to highlight your trolling. After that I will go back to commenting casually as per previous.
I agree with you. The journal was enjoyable because of the comments. There is an article just released on the Beatles and that has closed comments. Makes no sense.
Poor children getting sick like that.
@C O’H: This place is gone to the dogs. Can’t even comment on the Beatles getting to number 1.
@C O’H: enjoyable because of the comments. Wow It’s a news platform. You can billow your comments down the pub
@Tom Dillon: why are you then commenting tom?? Off to the pub with you. I’m sure the locals in your pub would say ‘oh no look who just walked in’.
Is it me or is everyone getting hysterical over every illness now?
@Anna Carr (Morrigan_Dubh): Not fair to comment on sick children in this manner Anna. It is a very serious life threatening respiratory infection. Parents of those sick children may be reading these comments following reading the article, as it relates to their child. Could you please be kind.
@Anna Carr (Morrigan_Dubh): Where’s the hysteria? It clearly says in the article that the majority of children will recover without treatment, but it rightly highlights the fact that it can cause serious complications for small babies and children with underlying issues. What’s wrong with educating people on this?
Ringo might sue them.
have your say