Children are placed in Ballydowd by High Court order and it caters for males and females between the ages of 11 and 17 when their behaviour presents a real risk to their lives and health. Six children were residing there at the time of the inspection last summer, with inspectors meeting with two of them.
They presented a mixed picture of life there and while neither expressed concerns about their immediate safety, one said that some incidents occurred in the centre because children were not kept apart and then staff "restrain too much".
Social workers also told Hiqa that they had concerns about inconsistent practice and while children said they mostly had a positive experience in Ballydowd, "the number and nature of monitoring notifications to Hiqa prior to inspection raised concerns about safeguarding practices in the centre".
To highlight the challenges, the report said: "Recent incidents of concern occurred on the premises which included one child consuming alcohol, another being in possession of drugs and a third child had their hair set on fire by another resident."
There were also issues regarding allegations made against staff and how those were dealt with. According to Hiqa, in September 2019 it was informed of an incident where a staff member was found to have been driving at excessive speed while transporting a child.
This was managed effectively, but reporting of the incident to Hiqa by the person in charge was slow. Two months later, Hiqa was told of another incident which involved an allegation of misconduct against another member of staff.
At the time, inspectors were assured that all necessary safeguards and measures were put in place to prevent a recurrence, but according to the report: "In the weeks prior to inspection, the special care unit notified HIQA of three serious incidents in quick succession, two of which included allegations of misconduct against two different staff members.
"When queried by inspectors, it was established with the person in charge, that one of these allegations was in relation to the same staff member against whom a previous allegation of misconduct was made in November 2019."
The report refers to the "apparently excessive management structure" in Ballydowd and to the number of vacancies filled in either a temporary or interim capacity, as well as the "poor quality supervision of social care workers - some of whom were equally inexperienced in their role as direct caregivers to vulnerable children".
Six experienced staff had resigned at Ballydowd in the first three months of 2020.
It also said: "Inspectors were not assured that there were adequate arrangements in place to notify an Garda Síochana of allegations against staff."
The Health Information and Quality Authority escalated its concerns to the CEO of Tusla, Bernard Gloster, and a compliance plan is now in place.
