The High Court dismissed four family law proceedings brought by a father concerning access to his son and contact between the boy and his older sister, ruling that it had no jurisdiction to revisit issues dealt with by the District Court and Circuit Court.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 28 July 2021, Mr Justice Jordan said the four special summonses sought orders under the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 on custody, access, parenting time and the siblings’ relationship. The proceedings were numbered 2021/12M, 2021/14M, 2021/33M and 2021/53M.
The judge said the children were already the subject of District Court proceedings and appeals to the Circuit Court. The Circuit Court’s order of 28 April 2021 affirmed the District Court’s custody order in favour of the mother. It said that, if the father wanted access, he had to complete a parenting course and attend personal therapy; the boy was to continue therapy, attend school in Graiguenamanagh and play sport where he wished, with expert opinion to be noted. The Circuit Court also refused a stay and granted an application for costs.
The High Court considered jurisdiction as a preliminary issue. The judge referred to the statutory provision that a Circuit Court decision on an appeal from the District Court is final and not appealable. He said the father had also brought purported appeals of Circuit Court orders that were struck out for lack of jurisdiction, as well as judicial review proceedings, two of which remained pending at the time of this judgment. Those judicial review cases were not before him, and he made no decision on them.
Justice Jordan said the four applications were attempts to present the previously litigated matters as something else. He concluded that the High Court could not hear them because the District Court and Circuit Court had dealt with the issues. He dismissed each of the four proceedings for want of jurisdiction. The ruling did not determine the pending judicial review applications.
The judge also awarded the mother her costs in each set of proceedings, to be adjudicated in default of agreement. The judgment noted the potential hardship to the father but found no reason to depart from the principle that costs should follow the event.