Dublin woman gets suspended sentence for child neglect

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 35-year-old Dublin woman received a two-year sentence, fully suspended, for wilfully neglecting her children at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, reported on 23 January 2018. The children had been found in distressing conditions, including one six-year-old found wandering wet and cold in Dublin. Judge Martin Nolan imposed conditions including engagement with the Probation Services. The woman had pleaded guilty to two counts of wilfully neglecting her children.

The court heard that the woman had alcohol addiction issues and had suffered a mental breakdown at the time. Her children were removed from her care and placed with relatives, while she later engaged with services and retained regular supervised access. The sentence was suspended rather than resulting in immediate custody.