Parental child abduction cases are increasing in Ireland as former couples struggle to agree custody arrangements, a solicitor has said.
Irish authorities are involved in efforts to resolve 61 continuing cases, where minors have been moved to or from Ireland by one parent without the other parent’s consent.
The Irish Central Authority for International Child Abduction, which falls under the remit of the Department of Justice, handles parental child abduction cases under the Hague Convention.
In most cases, the situation arises after a relationship between parents breaks down, and one parent chooses to leave their country of residence prior to issues of custody and guardianship being finalised.
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“There’s a lot more of these cases coming up because Ireland in 2026 is a much more international place,” solicitor Keith Walsh said.
When couples separate or divorce, if there are children involved, one parent might decide they want to return to their country of origin, he said.
Some parents don’t realise they have grounds to submit a relocation application - where they seek court permission to move their children to another country - and can legally relocate, even if they don’t have the other parent’s consent.
Instead, they decide to “disappear”, Walsh said, something that can have “grave” consequences.
As of January 26th, the central authority was working on 43 outgoing cases, where a parent is in Ireland but their child or children were taken to another country. It was also working on 18 incoming cases, where a parent in another country is seeking the return of their child or children from Ireland.
Walsh has represented clients in a number of incoming cases in recent years.
“Generally, people abduct children when there’s a desperation or some kind of immediate urgency that drives them to do this. It’s an unusual act,” he said.
A parent who did not consent to their child or children being moved to another country may seek to have them returned by making an application to the designated central authority in their country of residence.
If abduction is deemed to have occurred, local courts usually decide that the children should be returned to their normal country of residence but there are some exceptions.
Under article 13 of the Hague Convention, a return to the country of normal residence could be denied if there is a “grave risk” the child could be exposed to “physical or psychological harm” or otherwise placed in “an intolerable situation”.
If a court rules the child should be returned, “it’s usually not the end of the case”, Walsh said. After the parent and child return to the country they absconded from, this parent has “seriously disadvantaged themselves” in any future custody hearings.
Parental child abduction cases are, by their very nature, complex. But the situation is “really tricky” if one of the countries in question isn’t a signatory of the Hague Convention, Walsh said.
“If a child is taken to Pakistan, for example, there’s no central authority for the Irish central authority to talk to.”
In 2025, the central authority in Ireland dealt with a total of 132 parental child abduction cases. There were 51 incoming cases, 33 of which were resolved and the child or children were returned to the country they were originally taken from.
Of the 81 outgoing cases, 36 cases were resolved and the child or children were returned to Ireland.
The central authority “communicates updates or requests for information between a parent in Ireland and the authorities of the other state involved” but “is not involved in the legal proceedings of the other country”, a statement from the department said.
The timeframe of cases can vary widely, particularly if appeals are made to higher courts.
The longest-running incoming case was opened on August 2nd, 2023. The oldest outgoing case was opened on October 3rd, 2018.
At the end last year, the average duration of incoming cases was 240 days and for outgoing cases was 371 days.
