A High Court judge has said he appreciates the frustrations of a man who has not seen his young daughter for more than a year after the girl’s mother moved her to Poland without his consent.
Judge Conleth Bradley on Friday said the father at the centre of the case was in a “terrible situation” after he told the court his daughter, now aged four, was relocated two years ago.
The girl’s parents have been involved in a legal battle for more than a year over where the girl, who the court heard is autistic and has complex medical needs, should receive medical treatment.
In January, the Polish supreme court agreed with the ruling of a lower court last year which found that the girl, a dual Irish-Polish citizenship, should be returned to Ireland as her mother left the State without the father’s consent.
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Despite this ruling, the father claims the Polish authorities have failed to locate his daughter to date.
On Friday he said his daughter was “illegally removed from her home” in Ireland more than 700 days ago and he had not seen her in person since a court hearing in Poland more than a year ago.
The father is taking legal action against the Irish State over what he views as its failure to intervene in the case.
The man, who is representing himself, informed the court that he last week received a letter from the children’s ombudsman in Poland, who is supporting the mother in the case. He said the letter essentially informed him his daughter will remain in Poland for the foreseeable future.
The father said his solicitor in Poland told him this means he has “no further legal remedies” available to him in that country.
The judge said the man had submitted the letter, and the supreme court ruling, in “good faith” and asked the defence, represented by senior counsel Gerard Durkan, to help verify the documents.
The documents “appear to be official” but the judge said he wanted “more assurance” as the case is dealing with “important and serious matters”.
Durkan said the Department of Foreign Affairs would make efforts to verify the files by contacting the relevant Polish authorities. He said the new documents “update the situation” but do not change the State’s position.
The judge gave the defence until April 7th to verify the documents and submit an affidavit to the court. The father will then have a week to respond.
The judge said he would rule on the case on April 21st. However, the father was very critical in court that matters would not be dealt with sooner.
“I absolutely appreciate your position in every respect, but we have to bring finality to this in as far as we can,” the judge said.
The couple, who are married but estranged, previously lived together in Ireland before the mother moved back to her native Poland with their daughter in 2024.
In May, a Polish court ruled that the Irish-born girl should be brought back to Ireland. The mother appealed this, arguing that her daughter would receive better medical care in Poland due to long waiting lists in Ireland.
In January, the supreme court agreed with the previous ruling.
Each country has a central authority that facilitates the return of abducted children to the country of their habitual residence. In Ireland, this authority falls under the remit of the Department of Justice.
A spokesman for the department previously said the central authority “provides assistance to parents and guardians of children who have been removed from the jurisdiction without their consent”.
It said a department or minister “cannot intervene in private, civil or international legal matters which are the subject of court proceedings either in Ireland or another jurisdiction”.
