The Central Authority for Child Abduction operates in my Department for the purposes of, among other international instruments, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention is designed to ensure the prompt return of children who have been removed from one contracting state to another - usually by a parent in defiance of the wishes of the other parent. The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table.
Year
|
Total number of cases processed
|
Total number of new cases
|
Applications where 1980 Hague Convention invoked only
|
Applications where 1980 Hague Convention and Brussels II bis* Regulation invoked
|
2010
|
233
|
140
|
117
|
46
|
2011
|
261
|
142
|
125
|
79
|
2012
|
276
|
147
|
116
|
82
|
2013 (to date)
|
90
|
61
|
19
|
17
|
* Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgements in matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility.
Please note some applications would have been processed under other international instruments. Further details are available on my Department's website at www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/International_child_abduction.