{"id":485058,"date":"2026-06-05T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485058\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:57:10","slug":"lithuanian-boy-brought-to-ireland-without-mothers-consent-to-remain-in-country-judge-rules-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485058\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian boy brought to Ireland without mother\u2019s consent to remain in country, judge rules \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Lithuanian<\/a> boy brought to Ireland by his father without his mother\u2019s consent can stay in the country after the child \u201ccompellingly\u201d submitted that, while he wanted to return home, he could not do so due to his mother\u2019s addictive behaviour putting him at risk.<\/p>\n

A High Court<\/a> judgment ruled that the 14-year-old boy can remain in Ireland after he submitted a report demonstrating his \u201cconsiderable maturity\u201d, which led the judge in the case to not exercise discretion over his possible return to Lithuania.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s mother alleged her son was wrongfully removed from Lithuania by his father in August 2025, contrary to the Hague Convention.<\/p>\n

Judge Nuala Jackson, in her judgment, said the child was subject to proceedings by his mother for his return that were instituted in September 2025.<\/p>\n

The father, the judgment said, accepts that the mother had, at the time, the rights of custody in respect of the child and further accepts that the removal of the child was wrongful. However, he defended his actions under Section 13 of the Hague Convention, referring to both the \u201cgrave risk\u201d to the boy and the objection of the child.<\/p>\n

The risk to the boy, it was submitted, is that his mother has alcohol and medical issues that resulted in his abandonment and \u201cgrave risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge said the father visited Lithuania in the summer of 2025 and \u201csubstantial concerns\u201d arose relating to the care of the boy, whereby the father later took him on \u201choliday\u201d to Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is amply clear that the child has a considerable loyalty to and love for the applicant [his mother] and was greatly concerned for her welfare and was protective of her,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

The boy stated that he had witnessed his mother being beaten up by visitors to his home and that items were stolen from him, putting him in fear.<\/p>\n

While the boy enjoyed societal and school life in Lithuania and had stayed with his father in Ireland, he did not wish to permanently remain here and stayed with his father on \u201choliday\u201d, the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe child\u2019s position is more nuanced and calibrated in his wish to reside in Ireland,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe confirms his mother\u2019s continued excessive alcohol consumption, that she brought strangers back to the house and that they were also drinking alcohol. He confirmed being left alone for a week and that his mother was beaten up by men. He expresses positive statements regarding life in Lithuania but that he wishes to live in Ireland as he feels safe here,\u201d said the judge.<\/p>\n

The judge said that while the father had not proved the defence of non-existence of custody rights, she referred to the \u201cmost compelling\u201d affidavit of the child, which \u201cdemonstrates considerable maturity\u201d on his behalf in that if alternative arrangements were made for his care he would not object to being returned to Lithuania.<\/p>\n

The judge said the defence against the boy\u2019s return to Lithuania was made out and she would refuse discretion in the matter to direct his return \u201cin the best interests of the child\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Lithuanian boy brought to Ireland by his father without his mother\u2019s consent can stay in the country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73,61,60,8871,43],"class_list":["post-485058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lithuania","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}