If a child is removed without permission from the person who has custody, they are considered to have been abducted.
Contact the Gardaí immediately, if you believe your child is in danger of being abducted.
Abduction by other parent
If your child’s other parent removes them from you without your permission, you need to contact a solicitor as soon as possible. It is an offence to unlawfully abduct a child, even if you are a parent. The Hague Convention and the Luxembourg Convention restrict the practice of child abduction and were incorporated into Irish law by the Child Abduction Act 1991. They are designed to ensure the prompt return of children to the appropriate legal jurisdiction, as long as it is in the child’s best interests to do so.
Legal decisions about the child are generally made in the country where the child lives, so if your child is taken from their home in Ireland, Irish laws should apply. However, it can be difficult to secure the return of the child, even with a favourable court order. In such cases, you may still have to work with the legal system in the country the child has been abducted to.
Ireland has signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980), which embraces the principle that the court of the child's habitual residence is best placed to decide any custody disputes. Irish domestic law incorporates both the Hague and Luxembourg conventions in the Child Abduction and Custody Orders Act 1991. If you wish to report a child abduction into Ireland, you need to apply to the Central Authority for Ireland at the Department of Justice.
Contact the Gardaí immediately, if you believe your child is in danger of being abducted.
