Court ‘powerless’ to order return of abducted children

THE High Court has said it is powerless to order that two young boys, aged two and four, who were abducted by their Egyptian father during a family holiday, should be returned to Ireland and their mother.

Judge Mary Rose Gearty said the children’s mother had applied to the court for an order that her children be sent back to her. She agreed that this should be done immediately; however, because Egypt has not signed the Hague Convention, which allows for the swift return of abducted children, she said the court’s jurisdiction was very limited, and that she could only seek to assist any future application that might be made in Egypt.

Giving the background to the case, she said the family, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had gone on holiday to Egypt to visit the father’s family in March last year. During that holiday, the father decided to remain there with the boys.

He addressed the court by videolink, and said that his sons would remain in Egypt. He did not refute their mother’s allegation that he had made the decision unilaterally. He said the only way she could be with her sons would be if she gave up her job, family and friends, and moved to Egypt to live with him.

Judge Gearty noted the children were Irish citizens, and had always lived here.

The father claimed he felt his boys were safer in Egypt, alleging that their mother and her mother drank alcohol to excess.

However, the judge said the evidence submitted, which included text messages and bank statements, did not support this. She concluded: ‘I conclude that in respect of their overall care, the capacity of the [mother], due to her understanding of what this parental separation means, the parents’ joint preparation for the boys’ education, her extended family, her financial and her home circumstances, appears to be greater than that of the [father].

‘This does not mean that he is not a loving and capable father, it is to consider what is best for the boys overall.’