Ireland's child abduction system is 'broken', says grandmother of boy kidnapped

Norma Heeney and son Faris Heeney

The grandmother of a child who was kidnapped and taken to Egypt has described the system around child abductions in Ireland as “broken”.

Faris Daniel Heeney was two years old when he was dressed as a girl and smuggled through Dublin airport on his half-sister’s passport.

Faris, who was born in Dublin and is now 15 years old has been living with his father in the Egyptian city of Tanta, since July 2009.

The child was taken from his mother Norma Heeney without her consent after an overnight access visit, at a time when his father was facing criminal charges.

Marian Heeney, who spearheaded a high-profile campaign at the time of the child’s abduction, told the Irish Examiner that the government “did nothing to help us” at the time.

The mother of six was speaking after new figures were released by the Department of Justice which show there have been 83 cases involving 126 abductions from Ireland since January 1, 2021.

The figures released to the Irish Examiner also reveal how, 18 fathers and 63 mothers are alleged to have taken the child or children while there are two cases where this data is not available.

So far this year, gardaí have recorded three cases of abductions involving a person under 16 years of age, compared with eight cases in the last quarter of 2022.

Last week, three minor siblings who were the subject of child abduction proceedings were returned to their mother in the UK.

Faris Heeney and Norma

High Court judge Garrett Simons directed the gardaí to issue a Child Rescue Ireland or CRI alert when the children went missing.

The case went before him again last Friday when he was informed the children were brought home to their mother.

Ireland and England are both signed to the Hague Convention on child abductions which means police in either country can assist and work with each other.

However, in the case of Faris Heeney, he was abducted to Egypt which is not signed to Hague – making his case more complex.

Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter proposed a bilateral agreement on child abduction with the Egyptian government because of the Heeney case – but this proposal did not progress.

Faris’ grandmother Marian Heeney said her family was in “despair” when they realised Faris was taken out of the country, and she would like the Department of Justice to go further when it comes to returning children outside the jurisdiction.

The child’s parents were no longer in a relationship and had not married, and his father required his mother’s consent to take Faris out of the country – which he did not have.

Moustafa Ismaeil – Faris’s uncle – smuggled him through the airport while his father and a second uncle left Ireland through Belfast and returned to Egypt.

Moustafa was contacted by gardaí and returned without the child. He was jailed for six years and was released and deported in 2014.

“We were promised the sun moon and stars, but nothing came to fruition,” said Marian. “It was really a horrific time; it broke us to pieces.

“We just had to keep highlighting it. The case was in the Dáil, and we met every TD and minister you could meet.

“The toughest part was visiting Faris in Egypt after trying to make some kind of peace with his father for the child’s sake.

“There was no help and no financial support, we did everything on our own and Faris remains there. We were doing up affidavits for court cases that we were promised in Egypt – nothing went ahead.

“We are in touch with Faris now, we always send over gifts, but we had to do it all on our own. It is a broken system for people like us”.

The Department of Justice said there are a number of things that can be done when a child is abducted, and that the matter falls under civil and criminal law.

The first port of call is the gardaí while a legal guardian can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Court applications can also be made, and the Central Authority for Child Abductions at the Department of Justice can be contacted.