Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have been contacted a lot by family and friends of Nicola Fox. Nicola Fox is an Irish mother who was jailed in England for a month and whose term was recently extended for another five months. Nicola is an Irish citizen. Her crime was trying to bring her son Harry home. She has had supervised access to her son once every two weeks. She has been very vocal and outspoken, which seems to be why she is being punished like this. Harry expressed the desire to stay with his mother, and the English police detained her while she was with her son. There is no allegation that Nicola is not a good mother or that she ever did anything to Harry. She is a broken woman, understandably. It is devastating for her. Imagine that she has to go to a contact centre in a watched environment to see her six-year-old son. She is outspoken and it seems to be that there is nothing else that she can do. However, she should not be punished for speaking out. The Minister for justice must intervene in this case because a mother should not be jailed for months for speaking out on behalf of her son. It is important that the community in the south-east inner city receive clarity as to why the family courts reached their decisions. Above all, Harry needs to be protected. This has exercised people, including the Minister for justice, given Nicola's incarceration for what will be six months or longer. It is just unacceptable and some sort of intervention and clarity need to be brought to this.