Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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533. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 154 of 8 May 2013, if he will detail the number of children who were abducted and where the Hague Convention was invoked have been sent back to the jurisdiction where they were taken from, either Ireland in the cases of children taken out of this State or other countries in cases where the children were brought here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24087/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Central Authority for Child Abduction operates in my Department for the purposes of, among other international instruments, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention is designed to ensure the return of children who have been removed from one contracting state to another. The information requested by the Deputy is set out below:

The Deputy should note the following in relation to the above figures, these figures relate to the number of children, not applications, whose parents were subject of a Court Order to return their children plus those who agreed to voluntarily return the children. In addition to the above, it should be noted that some applications are withdrawn and others are resolved by other arrangements including access. The figures quoted also reflect the number of children whose return was invoked under the Hague Convention and the relevant EC Regulation which enhances the provisions of the Convention and these figures include children from both non-EU and EU member states. Further details are available on my Department’s website at: www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/International_child_abduction.