Woman claims former partner wanted to use their toddler to get Irish visa, court hears

A mother has claimed her former partner only wants to use their toddler to get an Irish visa, a court heard today.

The mother told the Dublin District Family Court her young son was premature and was therefore quite poorly when he was born. She said the father left Ireland for the UK when the baby was just four weeks old, and never contacted them to enquire about his health.

He then returned to Ireland and contacted them – but was only interested in the child “to get his papers”, the mother told Judge David Waters.

The father was also convicted of breaching a safety order the mother obtained against him, in December 2015, and he was ordered to not be in contact with her.

In October 2015, the father was granted monthly one-hour visits with the son, and so he saw the child three times before he breached the Safety Order in December. Visits stopped after that.

The mother, who works as a health care assistant, said she would have serious safety concerns if the father were to see her son.

“For one year, he didn’t ask if the baby was alive,” she said. “It was when he came to prepare his papers that he started to threaten me.

“I’m not safe. My baby is not safe. … Even when I’m looking at him, I’m scared.”

She said her former partner has threatened to kill her if she tries to stop him from getting his visa.

“He wants to kill me – how can he with [my son]?” she asked the court.

Jennifer Cuffe, BL, for the mother, said echoed her client’s evidence, telling Judge Waters that the father has no interest or input into the child’s life.

“He only wants guardianship for visa purposes,” she said. “He doesn’t want anything to do with the child.”

She said the child currently has no passport, and but that the dad only wants a certified copy of a passport for his visa application.

The father said he would be happy to see his son once a month, in a centre that offers supervision services to families. He said he wanted to be a father in his life.

Judge Waters told him he hadn't gotten off to a very good start and was convicted of breaching a safety order. The father said he loves his son and would never pose a risk to him.

Judge Waters struck out the mother’s application to remove guardianship from the father. He said the father, as a guardian, can apply to have the mother’s consent waived in a passport application.

He granted the father, who began to cry into a facecloth, monthly supervised access for one hour with his son, to take place in a centre.

“Neither party seems to be putting the health and welfare of the child first,” the judge said, referring to the “astonishing attitudes from both parties”.