The number of child abduction cases in Ireland fell by almost 30 per cent last year. However, the threat of abductions by non-national parents is a growing concern, Dublin MEP Ms Mary Banotti has said.The Department of Justice dealt with 72 cases of child abduction last year, down from 102 in 2001.
Speaking at a seminar on international child abduction in Dublin yesterday, the Fine Gael MEP and European mediator on abducted children said that the rise of multiculturalism had brought more transnational marriages and more transnational child custody disputes.
"For the first time in Ireland we are living with a significant number of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, many of whom have married Irish nationals. The merging of different legal systems and religious backgrounds has the potential to lead to further difficulties," she said.
Child abductions by the non-national father of the child had become "endemic" in a number of other European countries, she said. "It has started to become worrying that what is an endemic situation in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and France will also become endemic here," she said.
The "non-continuity" of judges in Ireland and internationally was a particular problem in these cases, Ms Banotti added. "In many countries the average judge will only deal with one case of child abduction in their professional lives."
In an emotional address to the conference, Ms Christine O'Sullivan, the mother of Deirdre Crowley, murdered by her father, Christopher Crowley, in August 2001, said that for a long time she had believed her daughter had been victim of an international abduction and had been taken to Britain.
"My plea today is that people realise that these are real children and that child abduction is child abuse," she said.
Deirdre was four years and four months old when she was abducted by her father and was "the love of my life", Ms O'Sullivan said. "Deirdre was taken from me and subjected to what I can only describe as awful torment. The whole fabric of her life was ripped apart."
Ms O'Sullivan said she wondered often what Deirdre's life was like while she was kept in isolation. "She must have been so lonely, so helpless. I wonder did she feel I had abandoned her. She had nobody except a sick, twisted person in her life."
Ms O'Sullivan said she is still tormented to think that a number of people had contact with Deirdre's father after she had been abducted and did not report it to the gardaí. "The bit that really hurts is that so many people had information and did nothing."
