A teenager who hit the director of a children's detention centre on the head with a metal bar and smashed up the centre has been jailed for four years.

Handcuffs are only used on young offenders held in the Oberstown child detention facility in extreme circumstances, its director has insisted.

Ms Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh ruled Oberstown was entitled to separate the four into locked rooms for periods of up to three weeks and that separation was not unconstitutional.

Data on teenagers at the country’s main children detention campus has found that more than half were in care or known to the care system, and more than 40% were considered to be at risk of abuse and neglect.

People are being urged to stop calling young offenders "yobs" or "thugs".

Children may have had no fresh air for over a week while being separated from others at Oberstown detention centre, inspectors have found.

Children may have had no fresh air for over a week while being separated from others at Oberstown detention centre, inspectors have found.

Latest: Concerns are being raised about the use of "single separation" at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus in North Dublin.

The three boys locked themselves into a room at the facility.

Operators of the children’s detention centre, Oberstown, have failed to outline the legal reasons for their refusal to publish a long overdue review of the centre’s operations.

A new bail scheme for juveniles charged with a criminal offence is trying to keep “as many young people out of the custodial system” as possible, the head of the Probation Service has said.

Crime correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe goes behind the headlines in this special report on the fall-out from recent incidents at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus. As part of his report he meets Pat Bergin,  the centre's Director, and hears his assessment of the situation and of his plans for the future.

Violence, a rooftop fire, rioting, and industrial unrest — Oberstown Children’s Detention Campus had a bad week. With relations between management and unions at a low ebb, director Pat Bergin says some staff are unhappy with the rate and nature of workplace change

A week after the children’s detention campus erupted into chaos during a strike by staff, unions and management at Oberstown are to meet again on Monday to try and resolve the long-running dispute over health and safety.

The Workplace Relations Commission will this morning seek a resolution to the dispute over health and safety at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus which yesterday saw occupants locked in their rooms for four hours due to a staff work-to-rule.

The manager of Oberstown Children Detention Campus has said riot gear for staff is not the answer to issues at the facility as workers veer towards possible industrial action.

Residential care workers and night supervisors at the Oberstown youth detention centre have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.