Investigation underway following overnight fire at youth detention centre
An investigation is underway following the outbreak of a fire at the Oberstown Children's Detention Campus in Dublin overnight.
The fire was extingushed by Dublin Fire Brigade.
The fire crews worked through the night to get the blaze under control.
It is reported that there has been significant damage to one of the resident units at the centre.
We have 6 units at a fire in #Oberstown, firefighters are presently on scene & dealing with the incident #Dublin pic.twitter.com/1OBao20hzz
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 29, 2016
Six units of firefighters were dealing with the incident which occurred while a group of young residents climbed onto the roof of the building yesterday.
The Garda helicopter was dispatched after reports emerged that at least five, and as many as 10, residents of Oberstown Children Detention Campus in north Dublin gained access to the roof.
One member of staff was reportedly seriously injured when a resident broke down a door, hitting the staff member in the head.
Local senior gardaí liaised with management at the centre regarding their response to the security breach, and the public order unit was on standby.
It happened as staff from Impact and Siptu were carrying out an eight-hour stoppage outside the main gates of the complex in a dispute over increasing assaults and poor safety measures.
Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone called on the unions to cancel the industrial action and use the mechanisms provided to address their concerns.
The fire in Oberstown has been extinguished and all our units have returned to station.
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 30, 2016
It is not yet clear how the fire was started.
