23rd October 2015
On Thursday 22nd October, HIQA released a follow-up inspection report of Oberstown Children Detention Campus. The inspection was unannounced and took place over two days in June 2015. While the Report acknowledges some progress in relation to previous inspections, a number of serious concerns remain outstanding. These serious concerns include the excessive use of single separation as a response to negative behaviour; failure to conduct fire safety training and drills with the young people; very low provision of offending behaviour programmes; and inconsistencies in care planning and medication management.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is an independent authority responsible for driving quality, safety and accountability in residential services for children, older people and people with disabilities in Ireland. HIQA began inspecting children detention schools in 2008. Each children detention school is inspected annually and inspection reports are available on the Authority’s website. Children detention schools are inspected against Standards and Criteria for Children Detention Schools produced by the Irish Youth Justice Service.
The press release of the Children's Rights Alliance is available here
IPRT press release on the follow-up HIQA Report is available here
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.