Oberstown Annual Report 2025

July 07, 2026

Key highlights include:

• Young people participated in a broad range of offence-specific, educational and personal development programmes, including REAL U, Respect: Dating Detox, Victim Empathy, Baseline, Decider Life Skills and the Responsibility Programme.
• Continued progress in education, with six young people completing the Junior Certificate and 43 QQI Level 3 and Level 4 General Learning modules achieved across the campus school.
• Vocational achievements included 22 Fitness Instructor qualifications, 30 HACCP food safety certificates, 22 Safe Pass certificates, 20 Manual Handling certificates, barista training, catering training and horticultural training.
• The Hear I Am podcast project continued to grow, with 44 young people producing more than 20 podcast episodes exploring their experiences, interests and aspirations.
• Young people completed creative projects with partners including EPIC, Music Generation, Fighting Words and artist Joe Caslin, alongside participation in Gaisce – The President's Award and extensive sporting activities.
• Oberstown strengthened partnerships with organisations including the Traveller Justice Initiative, EPIC, Le Chéile, Hub na nÓg, the Diamond Project and Extern's Bail Supervision Scheme to support young people before, during and after detention.

• Continued investment in staff development and wellbeing, including expanded practice supervision, implementation of recommendations from an independent culture review, and ongoing professional training recognised by HIQA as contributing to improvements in care and governance.

• A comprehensive review of the Children's Rights Policy Framework was completed, reinforcing Oberstown's rights-based approach and strengthening young people's participation in decisions affecting campus life.
• Oberstown hosted and contributed to national and international youth justice events, including the 11th Irish Criminal Justice Agencies Conference and the 5th World Congress on Justice with Children.
• Sustainability initiatives continued, with Oberstown working towards ISO 50001 certification, establishing its first campus apiary, joining the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and continuing progress towards national Climate Action targets.

The full report is available to read and download in pdf format here.

Read the press release here.