Sir, - An article by your Foreign Affairs correspondent, Mark Brennock, (July 18th), gave a list of abductions from and into Ireland. It also stated the number of these children whose return was ordered by the court. Could he now go a step further and find out how many of these children were subsequently returned to Ireland, and the reason why this happened?
The article quotes Mary Banotti as saying that one of the problems with The Hague Convention was the recourse to the exemptions clauses. I am really surprised at this remark. As child abduction mediator in Europe. she should know by now that the reverse is true namely, the refusal by the courts to take cognisance of the most cited exemption, Article 13b. This states: "The child does not have to be returned if there is grave risk that his or her return would expose the child to physical or psychological harm, or otherwise place the child in an intolerable position."
The statement that "the Interpol figures greatly understate the problem because they only, cover criminal abductions," gives the impression that an abduction by a parent is not a criminal offence. In Ireland, it has been a criminal offence since the end of 1995.
Instead of seeking a new body to combat child abductions, the MEPs should be seeking to have the many anomalies removed from The Hague Convention. - Yours, etc.,
Castle Street,
Dublin 2.