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Oberstown Annual Report 2024

July 10, 2025

Highlights include:

  • Young people participated in 14 different programmes throughout 2024. These included Life Connections, Respect: Dating Detox, Crinan Drug Awareness, and Pro Social.
  • Continued progress in education with 6 young people sitting the Junior Certificate and 2 completing their Leaving Certificate, and students earning certificates across 27 modules at Level 3 General Learning QQI.
  • Young people took part in the development and delivery of an internal Oberstown podcast series, aimed at teaching audio production skills, amplifying youth voices, promoting dialogue, and sharing personal experiences from campus life.
  • Vocational achievements included: 16 SafePass certificates, 32 Manual Handling certificates, 1 forklift licence, 27 Fitness Instructor qualifications, 30 HACCP food safety certificates, and 12 young people completing barista training.
  • Staff development progressed with over 100 staff registered with CORU, and Oberstown became one of the first organisations in Ireland to achieve ISO 45003 certification for psychological health and safety in the workplace.
  • 2024 saw another year-on-year decrease in the number of Health and Safety Authority reportable incidents, with 11 during 2024 – down from 17 in 2023 and 24 in 2022.
  • New horticultural training facility operating on campus with 15 young people completing a three-month vocational programme.
  • Through the EU-funded ‘Walk in My Shoes’ project, young people worked with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and Youth Perspectives (YOPE) to contribute to training, policy development and campus understanding of lived experience.
  • Young people and An Garda Síochána collaborated on the ‘Breath of Fresh Éire’ art project in Balbriggan, creating murals that fostered community dialogue and strengthened local relationships. The project was run in collaboration with Gaisce – The President’s Award, a long-established focus for young people, with 20 awards achieved during the year (1 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze).
  • The launch of the Baseline programme in February 2024 – a new intervention delivered in partnership with Tusla and the Probation Service to address harmful sexual behaviour.
  • Oberstown was a key contributor to the European Data MOSAIC project, helping to improve data on violence against children in detention and influence policy nationally.
  • CO2 emissions on campus were 39% below the 2016–2018 baseline and energy performance had improved by 45% since the 2009 baseline.
  • New senior management roles focused on strengthening the integration of services and delivery of care on campus, while the Oberstown graduate recruitment programme progressed with expanded partnerships with MTU, SETU, TUD and others.

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

Read the press release here.