Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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489. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the supports his Department provides to Irish citizens with children holding Irish citizenship who are involved in custody battles involving ex partners in other jurisdictions within the EU and outside the EU; and his plans to improve these support services. [37931/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department and our Embassy network is available to provide consular assistance to all Irish citizens. I attach particular importance to the protection of children and their welfare.

Child custody disputes are difficult and distressing, and are often more difficult if there is an international or cross-border dimension, and my Department is regularly contacted and asked to assist in such cases. Because of the complex legal issues often involved in such cases, my Department’s role is usually quite constrained and limited. When contacted in such cases, my officials can, for example, discuss the issues involved with the Irish parent and the relevant Irish Embassy and seek to establish what mediation services or options are available locally. They can also provide lists of English-speaking lawyers and lawyers with expertise in relevant areas of family law in the country where the child or children are located. They can, on request, seek to facilitate a welfare check on the child or children concerned through the local authorities.

In cases where parental child abduction is alleged to have occurred, the nature of the support that can be offered depends on whether or not the country to which the child or children have been taken is a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. In a case where the child or children are located in a country which is a party to the Hague Convention, then that case would be handled within the framework provided by that Convention, with a clear role for the Central Authority for Child Abduction, which falls under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality.

Parents in cases where a child or children are suspected of having been unlawfully abducted to a country which is not a signatory to the Hague Convention have recourse to the criminal justice system and should report the matter toAn Garda Síochána. They may also wish to consider or seek legal advice on pursuing legal proceedings in Ireland and/or the jurisdiction to which the child or children have been taken to seek to have them returned. They are also, of course, entitled to seek information or consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and my Department can assist in the ways outlined earlier.

My Department cannot provide legal advice or financial assistance towards legal advice or representation, and this is always made very clear including in my Department’s Consular Assistance Charter and on its Website.