Grandparents to have access twice a month to infant of deceased son

An order setting out access for grandparents to their infant grandson following the death by suicide of their son was agreed at the Dublin District Family Court yesterday.

And in the Dublin Circuit Family Court, a businessman who unilaterally reduced maintenance payments for his three children failed in an attempt to have the cut approved by the court.

Since earlier this month following a change in legislation, family and childcare cases which were previously heard in private may be reported on by journalists on a restricted basis.

District Court Judge Marie Quirke yesterday heard that paternal grandparents wanted to increase access to their infant grandson, but the child's mother did not wish it and she wanted to change the access location from Dublin to a rural town.

The mother told the judge that previous fortnightly access at McDonald’s had been working but on the first occasion on which it became unsupervised, she believed the grandparents had been smoking. The infant had a respiratory problem and needed an inhaler and a nebuliser, she said. They had promised not to smoke and she was disappointed they broke their word.

She also said relations with the grandparents were hostile.“They blame me for their son’s death,” she said.

The court heard the child’s father had died by suicide. The mother claimed the grandfather had been angry and aggressive and had “interrogated” her about the death. “They don’t respect me or speak to me or acknowledge me,” she said.

She had moved from Dublin to the rural town to be close to her own mother and was now working there, she said. She wanted access to take place at a play centre in the locality.

Also giving evidence, the grandfather said he refuted “99 per cent” of what had been said. He and his wife had given up smoking and had only been using electronic cigarettes. They had to go to court last year to get access and felt “every obstacle had been put in their way” to stop them seeing the child. They now hoped they could bring the child to their own home. After negotiation, Judge Quirke approved an order outlining access in the rural town once every fortnight for four hours, with a visit in the grandparents’ house for five hours next Christmas.

“There will be no smoking in the vicinity of [the infant] during access full stop,” the judge ordered. She told the grandparents she respected their commitment to their grandson but the mother was “struggling with two young children” and after the tragic event “everyone was hurting”.

“I hope matters can move forward and leave the hurt of what has happened behind,” she said.

In a separate family law case in the Circuit Court, Judge Terence O'Sullivan heard a businessman was to have paid €1,600 a month for his three children in school and college following divorce but had reduced it to €300 .

His counsel claimed he could no longer afford it. He was now living abroad with his second wife, his businesses had run out of money and he was now an employee. He had provided all the documents he could to the court, she said.

However counsel for his ex-wife said he had two companies, one in Ireland and one abroad, and he had refused to provide sufficient proof of his drop in income. She also claimed he had handed in a P60 showing earnings of €34,000 in 2011, while his audited company accounts showed he had taken out €136,000 and put it in his second wife’s bank account. Her client, who was in employment, had been left short over Christmas and was struggling to pay college registration fees.

Judge O’Sullivan noted that at a previous hearing a court had ordered disclosure of the required documents within two weeks. He struck out the application and also granted a judgment of more than €4,000 against the businessman for maintenance arrears.