A man who wrongfully removed his teenage son from England after the boy came here for a rugby match must return the boy to his mother tomorrow pending legal proceedings in the UK, the High Court has ruled.
The 13-year-old boy, who has been attending secondary school here for some weeks, has told a psychologist he wants to remain in Ireland, but Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said he should experience second-level school in England from now until the term ends in July so he can have experience of both school systems.
The relationship between the mother and father, who are both Irish and unmarried, deteriorated in 2013 after the family returned from another country, where they had lived for two years. From around the time of boy’s birth in Ireland in 2001 until 2010, they had lived in Ireland, where he also attended primary school.
The family moved to England in December 2012 and a year later the mother left the family home and stayed with a relative. She had unrestricted access to the boy, who was still living with his father.
Earlier this year, the father and boy came here in a friend’s van, packed with all their belongings.
The father decided they would stay here and were accommodated by a relative for a time before moving in with friends. The father says the former family home here, which had been rented, is about to become available to him to live in on the expiry of a lease.
The mother obtained a court order in England requiring the boy’s return and proceedings were taken in Ireland seeking enforcement of that order under the Hague Convention governing child abduction.
In her judgment ordering the boy’s return, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan said the extent of discussion between the parents about the previous move to England was in dispute. It was agreed the father took the boy to visit a certain school in England and the boy’s preference at that time was to remain in England and attend school there.
It was not in dispute that the father wrongfully removed the child from England, the judge said.
The mother wanted him to attend school in England and alleged he had been manipulated by the father to form or express the view that he wanted to stay in Ireland, the judge said. A clinical psychologist who interviewed the boy for the Irish court proceedings disagreed with that view.
The boy had told the psychologist he never felt he fitted in in England. He sees both his grandmothers here and has friends here, including from his primary school days. He had also said he is able to retain contact with his mother but did not want to live in England.
Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan found as a fact, on the totality of the evidence, that the boy does object to returning to England and feels settled in Ireland.
However, his views of England were not entirely negative and seemed to relate mainly to his desire to continue schooling here, the judge said. His mother had said he could continue in the English school until the end of the term there on July 21st.
Because the Irish school term ended on May 30th, she would direct he be returned to England on condition he attend school there until July 21st.
She also requested an expedited hearing of the outstanding proceedings brought by the mother in England to allow for a decision, by the time the new Irish school term begins in late August, on where he should live and attend school.
It appeared desirable that the boy have more time in school this year, given his earlier absence, and also get the opportunity to have “double experience” of schools in both countries, she said.