On 17 May, Leonard O'Brien, a two-year-old Irish child, was taken forcibly from his mother's arms in the French city of Antibes by French gendarmes who arrived at the door unannounced and armed. The genesis of this is an action taken by Ms Sarah Jane O'Brien, who hails from County Clare. Her ex-boyfriend took an action under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The child was taken from its mother. We cannot cast this aside as a civil custody case or a civil matter. This is state-led abduction of a child. The Government and French Embassy are aware. We want the Taoiseach to have oversight. Just like the Government had oversight of the Ibrahim Halawa case in 2017, I ask the Taoiseach and the Government to have oversight of this. I am a dad to three smallies. I cannot even begin to comprehend what Sarah Jane is going through. This child is still being bottle-fed and in nappies and did not deserve to be taken by armed gendarmes.

I thank the Deputy. It might be a matter for a Topical Issue if the Deputy wishes to table it.

I appreciate the Deputy's consistent raising of the situation in the public domain. It is a very difficult and tragic situation when a child is forcibly removed from its mother in that context. I do not know the full background of the case in its entirety. Normally, we would not perhaps discuss it in a public arena but the Deputy has to raise it and I appreciate that. Normally, our consular officials work with families overseas who have challenging issues and difficulties and so on and represent them. We have a degree of oversight in that manner. Of course, the Hague convention is in place and legal issues would have to be navigated to see if we can get a resolution to this issue.