Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 17 May, Leonard O'Brien, a two-year-old Irish child, was taken forcibly from his mother's arms in the French city of Antibes by French gendarmes who arrived at the door unannounced and armed. The genesis of this is an action taken by Ms Sarah Jane O'Brien who hails from County Clare. Her ex-boyfriend took an action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The child was taken from its mother. We cannot cast this aside as a civil custody case or a civil matter. This is state-led abduction of a child. The Government and French Embassy are aware. We want the Taoiseach to have oversight. Just like the Government had oversight of the Ibrahim Halawa case in 2017, I ask the Taoiseach and the Government to have oversight of this. I am a dad to three smallies. I cannot even begin to comprehend what Sarah Jane is going through. This child is still being bottle-fed and in nappies and did not deserve to be taken by armed gendarmes.

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