Tusla recommends mother lose custody of child after making false allegations

Judge Alec Gabbett said that a Tusla report handed into court recommended that the girl’s father have sole custody of the girl because of the risk of ongoing emotional abuse of the child.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has recommended that a mother lose custody of her daughter after concluding that the woman made unfounded allegations against the girl’s father, a court has heard.

At the Family Law Court, Judge Alec Gabbett said that a Tusla report handed into court recommended that the girl’s father have sole custody of the girl because of the risk of ongoing emotional abuse of the child while remaining with the mother.

Judge Gabbett said this was because of the unfounded allegation made by the woman against her ex-partner which were designed, according to the report, to frustrate his access to their child.

Judge Gabbett stated: “Put simply, Tusla is saying that the mother has engineered a situation where her child has been subjected to medical examination, psychological examination, Garda interviews, and the allegations were all unfounded.

"This has happened on at least three occasions in order to frustrate the father’s access to his child.” 

The nature of the allegations against the father was not specified in court, but Judge Gabbett described them as being “of an extremely serious nature”.

'Spurious allegations'

Judge Gabbett said: “We are effectively in a situation where spurious allegations have been made of an extremely serious nature and the DPP has concluded three times that and Tusla has concluded three times that there is no basis to them.” 

The solicitor for Tusla, Kevin Sherry, told the court that the findings of his client are that the father doesn't pose a risk to his daughter.

Judge Gabbett said that the mother risks facing a criminal charge of harassment as “someone may draw a line in the sand over these spurious allegations”.

Solicitor for the father, Pamela Clancy, said that dealing with the allegations "has been hell for my client”.

Judge Gabbett said that the mother can “mend her hand” and allow access to the girl with her father on a 50/50 basis.

Judge Gabbett said that if this doesn't take place he will schedule a full custody hearing into the case “knowing that there is a social work file that recommends that I give custody to Dad”.

Judge Gabbett adjourned the case to later this month.