Management at Oberstown Children Detention Campus has said that escalating industrial action by social care and other staff will result in an “unacceptable risk to the safety, security and wellbeing of staff, young people and all those on campus”.Staff members belonging to the trade union Fórsa are to engage in a 12-hour stoppage starting at 9am on Tuesday, an increase on the 10-hour strike of last week. The union has also informed management there will be no arrangement on this occasion for any social care staff to work through the stoppage.The dispute is over staffing and safety concerns.Fórsa has also served notice that if the issues are not resolved, next week’s stoppage will be for 48 hours from midnight on Sunday.On Monday, Oberstown management said it respected the right of the union’s members to take action but added that “the withdrawal of all frontline care staff without derogation ... creates serious operational, safeguarding and child welfare risks.[ Why Oberstown staff have had enough Opens in new window ]“It is important to be clear that the consequences of industrial action should not be transferred on to children through increased isolation, confinement or other restrictive practices. Children should not be used ... as a means of escalating an industrial dispute.”It said it remains willing to engage on the issues and called on the union to stand down its action.In response, the union said “the decision to strike is not an easy one, but ... [it] is driven by the concerns of the social care staff who are doing the job every day. They are the workers who can see where the difficulties lie, from the overreliance on overtime to increased risks of injury on site.”The dispute is long-running. Workers have complained for years about staff shortages undermining safety and causing problems with rostering, breaks and other issues.There was a spike in assaults on staff last year. And though the numbers have dropped so far in 2026, the union says the issue needs to be resolved before any move is made to increase capacity beyond 46.Management says it has made progress on key issues with a net increase of nine frontline staff over the past 12 months and with efforts continuing to fill remaining vacancies. It says it tabled proposals to Fórsa intended to address the outstanding problems.The union, however, says it did not receive sufficient guarantees regarding the proposals. And it wants to Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE), which oversees the facility, to participate in talks so assurances regarding implementation can be provided.“The DCDE’s plans to increase the number of beds at Oberstown fail to acknowledge the capacity challenges we are already dealing with,” said Fórsa official Deirdre Connell.“Staff and residents continue to face increased risks to personal safety. This dispute is set to continue if that reality can’t be acknowledged by Oberstown management and the department.”