The High Court has ruled that a two-year-old child would be psychologically damaged if she was taken away from an intended adoptive couple and given to her natural parents.
In a landmark judgment, Mr Justice John MacMenamin ruled that the psychological harm done by attempting to place the child in the custody of the natural parents, who were now married, displaced the presumption in the Constitution that the appropriate place for the upbringing of a child was within a family unit.
He said the constitutional right of the child to the protection of her health and welfare should be vindicated.
In a case he described as "most difficult and distressing", the two-year-old - named as Ann, not her real name - will remain with the two people who want to adopt her, with whom she has formed an emotional bond.
The natural parents are appealing the decision to the Supreme Court. The child was born in 2004 when they were unmarried students and they placed her for adoption. This was done in November of that year, and since then Ann has remained with the carer parents.
The natural parents married in January 2006, which constituted them as a family unit under the Constitution. They started court proceedings to regain custody of Ann a month later.
The judge said there were compelling reasons why the child's custody should not be altered and that there had been what was termed a "failure of duty", displacing the normal constitutional presumption in favour of the family unit. Thus the child should remain with the intended adopters.
Mr Justice MacMenamin first gave a 107-page judgment in camera in the case last June after a 23-day hearing.
Since then applications were made to the court including by An Bord Uchtála, the Adoption Board, to have the judgment made public providing the anonymity of the child and parties was protected.
Yesterday, the judge outlined the circumstances of the case. He referred to it as complex, tragic and distressing, and expressed much regret that the court did not have the power to make any other decision in the circumstances which would have the effect of allowing some "middle ground".
He also remarked on an apparent lack of support for the natural parents. He said this was not a reflection on any of the professionals involved in the case.
"Such a situation appears to me to be one where, procedurally or structurally, such support should be available on an organised basis." He ordered that the identities of those involved be protected.
"At the heart of this case there are two couples, who through no fault of their own have been placed in a position which can only attract sympathy and compassion. They are legally entitled to their privacy. More fundamentally, so too is Ann."
Yesterday, An Bord Uchtála chief executive John Collins said it had been advised not to make any comment pending the Supreme Court appeal.