The High Court ruled that a 12-year-old girl identified as E. should no longer be required to stay overnight with her father during weekend access. It ordered daytime access instead and removed one weekend in four from the father’s weekend schedule, while leaving the rest of the Circuit Court’s custody and access arrangements in place pending a further hearing.
The decision, delivered by Mr Justice Abbott on 24 June 2016, dealt with the mother’s appeal and an application to vary access while the father’s appeal against the Circuit Court order remained adjourned. The court said the father’s appeal on the judicial separation would be considered later, when he was likely to have legal aid representation.
The Circuit Court had ordered overnight access for the father every weekend, alongside some weekday daytime access. The mother sought alternate weekends and said E. was struggling with overnights, while the father opposed the changes and said the children benefited from their time with him, including hockey and swimming activities.
A supplemental report by clinical psychologist Robert Foley said E. wanted continued contact with her father but did not want to stay overnight. The report relayed her concerns about routines in the father’s apartment and feeling pressured to attend. Foley recommended against insisting on overnights while the situation was unstable. The judgment records that the father challenged aspects of Foley’s evidence; the judge said identified recording omissions did not affect the report’s central conclusions or credibility.
The court ordered the father to collect E. from her mother’s home at 10am on weekend access days and return her at 5pm, unless the parents agreed another time. The father would have no weekend access on one weekend in every four, with the first such weekend beginning two weekends after the judgment to allow a transition. The parties could agree different arrangements.
The judge said the changes were made with the children’s best interests as the paramount consideration. He gave considerable weight to E.’s views, which he found measured and responsible, and said the overnight change was intended to preserve her meaningful relationship with her father. The court also said the full appeal remained to be heard and sought proposals from counsel for an exact access timetable and any further details needed to finalise the order, including any costs application.