The High Court allowed a father’s appeal in a dispute over his young daughter’s pre-school and schooling, setting aside a Circuit Court order and directing that the child be placed in Naíonra L.
The court also ordered that the mother’s consent be dispensed with if the child is offered a place at Scoil L primary school. The judgment did not make an order about attendance at secondary school. It said the court could not make a final, indefinite decision about a child’s education and that parents’ educational choices could change as circumstances changed.
The father had appealed after the Circuit Court refused his application to dispense with the mother’s consent to the child attending the proposed pre-school. He argued that the place could support a route into an all-Irish primary and secondary education, and said both parents had agreed that they could not afford private school fees. He also relied on an application for Scoil L signed in 2012 and a 2014 settlement agreement providing for joint custody.
The mother disputed that they had agreed on the school. She said she had changed her mind and wanted the child to remain in the Montessori section of her crèche until starting national school in 2016, then attend one of the schools she proposed. She also raised allegations of controlling and abusive behaviour, which the father denied. The judgment records those as allegations and disputes; it does not make a finding on them.
The High Court heard affidavit evidence and brief oral evidence from both parents. It said its decision was guided by the child’s welfare and was not a value judgment that one school was better than another. The judge considered the father’s proposed education plan logical, while recognising the parents’ poor relationship and the practical arrangements needed for the child’s care.
The order was made on the basis that the father would handle morning arrangements and put care in place after Naíonra or school until the mother could collect the child at 2.30pm on the four days she worked. The mother was to remain the child’s primary carer, while the court said the father should take on a significant parenting role. The judgment did not resolve future schooling choices beyond the specific orders concerning Naíonra L and a possible place at Scoil L primary school.