The High Court has deferred proceedings by a father challenging a decision by a Circuit Court judge to allow his daughter to spend four months with her mother, the man's former partner, in Australia.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the case raised "important issue of public policy" and should be heard on the basis of all parties being represented. He put back the application to October.
The man is seeking leave to seek orders, in judicial review proceedings, quashing a Circuit Court decision made by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin last April which allowed his daughter to travel to Australia for June, July, August and September.
The man, representing himself, claims the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to hear an application by his former partner to be allowed to remove their child from Ireland. In an affidavit, the man, who cannot be identified for legal purposes, said his former partner and her husband emigrated to Australia last November and wanted to bring her eight-year-old child with her.
The former partner applied to the District Court in February for their daughter's removal but the judge said he did not have jurisdiction and refused her application. The matter was then heard by Judge Ó Donnabháin in the Circuit Court. He made an order allowing the applicant's daughter to go to Australia during the summer, and she had left on June 1st.
The man said the court had no jurisdiction in Australia and she would be subject only to Australian laws. Her removal would effectively "remove me as guardian".
His daughter was born in 1998 but he and the mother ended their relationship a short time later. In March 1999 the man said he was appointed as his daughter's joint legal guardian, with the consent of the child's mother.
Mr Justice Charleton said he was deferring the application for judicial review. This was a "very complicated and delicate matter" and important issues of public policy were being raised.