O'M v S (Approved)

To preserve the anonymity of the child, the parties will be described simply as � the father � (the applicant in the title of the proceedings) and � the mother � (the respondent).

The application is made against the backdrop of a settlement agreement entered into between the child�s parents in May 2019. The settlement agreement had been reached in the context of protracted proceedings between the parties. In brief, the father had instituted proceedings in Singapore alleging that the failure of the mother to return to Ireland with the child in March 2017, following an agreed holiday abroad, constituted the �wrongful removal� of the child for the purposes of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (� the Hague Convention �).

The court of first instance in Singapore had made an order directing the return of the child to Ireland, but this order had been appealed. The appellate court then requested that the father, as applicant, obtain from the Irish Courts a decision or other determination that the removal or retention was wrongful within the meaning of Article 3 of the Hague Convention. This request was made pursuant to Article 15 of the Hague Convention (� the Article 15 proceedings �). At the relevant time, Ireland had been the child�s State of habitual residence.

The High Court was asked to address a number of matters including, inter alia , whether the mother and father were co-habitants for the purposes of section 2(4A) of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964; whether the father had guardianship rights to the child; and whether the father had custody rights under Irish law within the meaning of the Hague Convention.

The following year, orders in almost identical terms to the terms of settlement were made, on consent of the parties, by the Singaporean Court on 7 August 2020. Relevantly, paragraph 14 of the order provided as follows.