Fórsa members at Oberstown to escalate strike action

Members of the Fórsa trade union employed at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus in Dublin are to escalate their industrial action in a dispute over resourcing and staffing levels.

The workers will engage in a 12-hour strike later today and a 48-hour strike from Monday 31 August.

The industrial action is the fourth in a series of planned weekly work stoppages, which began earlier this month.

Fórsa said there will be no derogations for social care work during the action and that the only derogation in place will be for campus catering.

Fórsa Assistant General Secretary Deirdre O’Connell said the current industrial action is taking place because members want a lasting solution to ensure the safety of both residents and staff.

“This industrial action is taking place to highlight the issue of safe staffing at Oberstown,” Ms O’Connell said.

“These are social care workers working in an environment with a wide variety of needs, with an absolute focus on the safety of the young people in their care,” she added.

Fórsa said it advised Oberstown management that it remains available for “meaningful, solution-focused engagement”.

In a statement, Oberstown said the escalation would create “a direct and unacceptable risk to the safety, security and wellbeing of staff, young people and all those on campus”.

“Oberstown remains extremely concerned that tomorrow’s planned action, if implemented without derogation, may create circumstances in which the rights and welfare of young people are directly affected,” the statement said.

“Children should not be used, directly or indirectly, as a means of escalating an industrial dispute,” Oberstown added.

The centre said that over the past 12 months, it has taken a proactive approach to strengthen staffing, including the recruitment of 23 frontline staff.

It added that all recorded campus incidents have reduced by approximately 29%, from 191 year-to-date in 2025 to 136 during the same period in 2026.

“Oberstown is calling on Fórsa to reconsider this escalation and to ensure that any industrial action is managed in a way that protects the safety, rights and welfare of the young people in Oberstown’s care, as well as the safety and wellbeing of staff,” the centre said.

Oberstown added that it remains ready to engage constructively with Fórsa to resolve the dispute.