‘There was a readiness to believe the child had been abducted’

The Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan’s report found that the removal of Child T from her home in Tallaght, west Dublin, was "more complex" than that of Child A.

The report said the series of events were set in train after a TV journalist sent an email to the Garda Press Office with a message that had been left on his Facebook page. It read: “Today was on the news the blond child found in Roma Camp in Greece. There is also a little girl in Roma house in Tallaght and she is blond and blue eyes. Her name is [Child T] and the address is [Child T’s address]. I am [country in Eastern Europe] myself and it’s a big problem there missing kids. The Romas robing [sic] them to get child benefit in Europe.”

The message, with the last sentence excluded, was passed on to Sergeant A in Tallaght, who runs the Child Protection Unit.

Sergeant A contacted the principal of the girl’s school who said that as far as she knew, Child T was the child of the parent.

After an hour and a half of inquiries he, and two gardaí, called to the house.

He asked for identity documents and the birth cert for Child T. The mother produced documentation for other siblings but not the girl. But she said Child T had been born in the Coombe Hospital. When Sergeant A contacted the hospital, they said they had no record of the birth of a child with details matching Child T. He then rang a consultant in Tallaght Hospital who told him it would be “very unusual but not impossible” for parents with dark hair and eyes having a child with blonde hair and blue eyes.

After contacting social services, Sergeant A believed there were grounds to use emergency powers to take the child into custody. This was based on a number of factors: the child’s appearance; the Coombe Hospital failure to produce a birth cert; the view of the consultant; the fact that Child T went by another name; the fact that members of family had come to Garda attention before; and that there was a flight risk.

After that, the family produced the birth cert, but the sergeant did not believe it was genuine. The Coombe later contacted Sergeant A and said they did have a record of Child T’s birth. Sergeant A still went ahead.

The report found it was reasonable for the sergeant to have doubt over the authenticity of the birth cert based on the “highly unfortunate” error at the hospital. But the report said once the Coombe confirmed the birth details it was “unreasonable to have concerns”.

The report said there was “a readiness to believe” Child T may have been abducted because she was a blonde, blue-eyed girl living with a Roma family.