Those involved with the welfare of a troubled teenage boy held in a State detention centre - a place described as neither suitable nor beneficial for him - yesterday appealed to a High Court judge to direct that the boy be allowed to join his mother and siblings, who live in Britain.
The child's mother, her partner and his siblings would provide a family unit offering stability, affection and normality, and would provide "a loving home", Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for the health board charged with the boy's welfare, said.
The Constitution "would have to be turned on its head" were the court to order that the boy must stay in a place which was neither designed for nor suitable to his special needs, and where he was not doing well and when all the professionals involved believed he should not be there, counsel said.
An application to allow the 13-year-old to travel to England for weekend visits was made to Mr Justice Kelly in February but was refused. He directed the child be placed in the State detention centre.
Since then, the boy's mother has travelled to Ireland to see him each weekend.
Yesterday, the application was renewed before the same judge, who was asked to release the boy into his mother's custody.
The application to release the boy to the custody of his mother - who is estranged from the child's father, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in the State for offences including kidnapping - was made by the child's temporary guardian and was supported by the mother and the health board.
The court heard that if the boy was sent to Britain, his mother would not inhibit access to his father. She believed much of her son's troubled behaviour was prompted by the violence shown to her over the years by the boy's father.
The court heard that if released to his mother's custody the boy would be admitted on a residential basis to a special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The unit manager of the centre here where the boy is detained described him as having a childish, personable outlook. Much of his "acting up" at the centre was in the 24/48 hours after his mother's weekend visits, she said.
A judgment in the case will be delivered later today.