Separated father fails to get access to children

A father seeking access to his children at Dublin Circuit Family Court is to continue without seeing them pending the provision of legal aid for his estranged wife.

The children’s mother has been waiting since January 2014.

She told Judge Karen Fergus she had received written approval for legal aid last year and is on a waiting list, which she has been told is 12 to 18 months long.

The judge, who met the couple’s children ahead of yesterday’s court hearing, told the father they were not ready for access.

He has not seen his children since separating from his wife in 2013.

Judge Fergus said she was not happy to reinstate access until an assessment, known as a section 47 report, was carried out by a psychologist.

The report cannot go ahead until the Legal Aid Board has provided a solicitor for the mother, who does not wish the father to have access.

Repossession

The mother claimed the father was only seeking access to enhance his application on the local authority housing list and had not “pushed for it” in the past.

She also handed in an affidavit she said was sworn by a parent who had seen her husband “abuse” the children.

The mother said she and the children were about to lose their home, which is due to be repossessed in the next few weeks.

The father, who was also unrepresented in court, said he could not afford a solicitor or to pay for a psychologist to carry out a section 47 report, and did not qualify for legal aid.

He complained that every time they came to court there was a different judge. He had “played by the rules”, he said, when others would have been “banging on doors”.

He said there had been no allegations of “abuse” against him until “last week” and asked to be given the name of his accuser.

Judge Fergus said the affidavit with the person’s name would be sent to him when all of the documents were filed in court.

She adjourned the case to June and said the court would write to the Legal Aid Board to try to expedite matters. She also said she would take charge of the case.

Maintenance

Separately, a divorce by consent almost did not go ahead when a couple disagreed over maintenance at the last minute.

While in the witness box, the husband, who had agreed to pay €600 a month in maintenance, asked whether he would be able to appeal a condition that he also pay 50 per cent of their child’s back-to-school and Christmas expenses.

“I’ll be beaten with that if something goes wrong,” he said.

The mother told the judge she was now “very worried”. She had already agreed to a cut in maintenance, down from €1,300 a month, and was struggling to manage.

Judge Fergus said the case was not a consent one and the parties would have to go away and seek legal advice and return for a full hearing.

The father then said he was being stubborn and was now “swearing on the Bible” that he would pay half of the expenses.

He said he was “genuinely anxious” to get the divorce. The judge granted the decree and said it would come out in the post to both parties in a couple of weeks.