Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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662. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current capacity of Oberstown Children Detention Campus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36120/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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663. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current open staff vacancies of Oberstown Children Detention Campus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36123/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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664. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the supports in place in Oberstown Children Detention Campus to alleviate pressure and support those working on the campus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36124/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 662, 663 and 664 together.

Capacity in Oberstown 36120

Oberstown Children Detention Campus is the State’s sole detention centre for children. The maximum occupancy in Oberstown is set by the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality by way of a certificate made under the Children Act 2001.

This certificate is currently set at 46 (40 boys and 6 girls). Places can be used to accommodate both children on detention orders and children on remand orders.

Current staff vacancies 36123

Oberstown is currently recruiting Residential Social Care Workers. This is a rolling recruitment campaign. The current campaign will run until 31.12.2025.

In 2025 to date, Oberstown has recruited 16 staff members to the roles of Residential Social Care Worker and Night Supervising Officer. A total of 15 of these staff members remain employed by Oberstown.

Supports in place in Oberstown Children Detention Campus to alleviate pressure and support those working on the campus 36124

Staff wellbeing and psychological resilience is a priority at Oberstown. The Management team in Oberstown is committed to the health and wellbeing of the staff, recognising the unique demands and opportunities of working in Oberstown Campus. The range of supports ensures employees have access to the resources they need to thrive personally and professionally.

Oberstown has an on-site chartered Organisational Psychologist, specialising in systemic psychotherapy and work and organisational psychology, who offers a tailored campus support service. This includes:

• Therapeutic interventions – confidential counselling, group support and therapeutic services to address personal and workplace challenges, fostering resilience and wellbeing.

• After-incident support – assistance following critical incidents, including a safe and confidential space to process events and structured reviews to ensure psychological safety and promote individual, team, and organisational learning.

• Professional coaching and group work – sessions to develop skills, address challenges, and support personal and professional growth.

• Clinical supervision – regularly scheduled one-to-one or Group Supervision sessions. Led by the Organisational Psychologist, the campus rolled out practice supervision to frontline staff in 2024 and conducted 116 group and individual sessions in 2024. Supervision provides a space to discuss and process emotional reactions, dilemmas, and concerns in relation to work.

The campus support services include a structured, multilevel system including a team of 28 peer support workers (PSWs), trained in critical incident stress management (CISM) and mental health first aid. They provide immediate, frontline assistance to colleagues affected by critical or traumatic incidents. For additional support, employees can also access a confidential employee assistance programme (EAP), providing 24/7 counselling, advice, and resources for personal and professional concerns.

This tiered framework ensures that staff have access to appropriate support at every level – from internal peer-based assistance to professional psychological services and access to external support.

This holistic approach reflects the unwavering commitment of Oberstown to creating a supportive, proactive workplace that places employee wellbeing and personal growth at its core. By providing access to these resources, Oberstown aims to foster a resilient, healthy, and supportive work environment for all employees.

Additional resources

• On-site Medical Suite staffed by Clinical Nurse Manager and a team of qualified nurses.

• Access to medical screening and assessment, by Medmark, the campus occupational health provider.

• Award-winning "Working Well" framework – specifically designed for the demands of Oberstown, Working Well identifies health and wellbeing priorities and schedules initiatives across the year to support psychological resilience and workplace wellbeing. The Working Well framework is a whole-system approach to addressing psychosocial health and wellbeing. It features supports and resources around four pillars – Work Safe, Work Healthy, Work Well and Work Wise.

• Best practice – Oberstown is certified to international standards for Occupational Health and Safety Management (ISO 9001:2015) and Psychological Health and Safety at Work (ISO 45003:2021).

• Oberstown is accredited to Ibec’s KeepWell Mark, has been listed among Ireland’s Top 100 Leaders in Wellbeing each year since 2021, won the Wellbeing Initiative of the Year 2020 at the Ibec KeepWell Awards, and was shortlisted in three categories in 2022.

• LifeSpeak online health and wellbeing resources for staff and family members.

• On-site facilities – access to restaurant and catering services with healthy eating options, a gym, free parking, and an electric vehicle charging point (EasyGo network).

• Staff can also avail of health insurance discounts, access to learning and development initiatives, and more.