Security review at youth facility

Security measures at the Oberstown detention facility are being reviewed as gardaí continue to search for three teenage boys who absconded from the centre on Saturday night.

Four boys escaped from the facility in north Dublin on Saturday, but it is understood one was injured and voluntarily returned to the campus on Sunday.

The circumstances of the escape are being investigated amid concerns that ladders used by builders in the continuing redevelopment of the campus may have been used.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said: “The circumstances of the incident are being reviewed by Oberstown management, with a view to addressing any identified security or other issues. This process is ongoing and a report is to be provided to the Oberstown board and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in due course.”

The campus, which houses Oberstown Boys, Oberstown Girls and Trinity House, has been beset by problems in recent times.

Earlier this year, health watchdog Hiqa published a highly critical report, including a claim that a male resident was handcuffed to a radiator while being restrained by staff.

It then emerged that more than 200 significant or critical incidents involving young people took place in the facility in a period of less than three years.

Yesterday, the Impact trade union, which represents staff at Oberstown, said it was concerned about an increasing number of incidents in which staff were assaulted in the recent past.

Responsibility for 17-year-old boys newly remanded in custody by the courts was assigned to Oberstown with effect from March 30 last, following moves to take children that age out of the St Patrick’s Institute for Young Offenders.

As for the possibility that building work on the campus may have led to ladders being utilised for the escape, a department spokesperson said: “The construction programme for the sixth and final new residential unit under the current capital investment project is ongoing. This is due to be completed and handed over to the Oberstown campus later in 2015.

“For operational and security reasons, the department does not comment on the location of individual residential units on the Oberstown campus or decisions regarding their use.”