A mother currently serving a prison sentence has asked that her child's upcoming First Holy Communion be deferred for one year so that she can attend.
At the Family Law Court, the mother told Judge Alec Gabbett "it is a very special day judge", and said that she wants to play her part in the build up to the day.
In reply, Judge Gabbett told the woman, aged in her 30s, "that you don't have to tell me how important it is".
The mother is not due for release until May of this year and after the woman received her prison term in January, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, secured care orders to take a number of her children into care.
Referring to another alleged assault case that the woman is facing, Judge Gabbett told her: "The First Holy Communion is the least of your worries to tell you the truth."
Solicitor for Tusla, Kevin Sherry, said that the woman’s children are thriving in their care placement "and my client is anxious to progress this".
The mother told the hearing that the first Holy Communion "is very important in this family’s life" which she said involves the choosing of dresses and ceremonies beforehand.
The woman’s solicitor, William O’Keeffe, told the court that "my client wants to be part of that and she accepts that she is the author of where she is now but she wants to be part of that process in the run up of the First Communion".
Mr O’Keeffe said that his client has not seen any of her children since she was jailed in January "and my client hasn’t had an opportunity to hear what the children’s wishes are".
Judge Gabbett remarked that preparations are well advance for the First Holy Communion "and it would be a shame to put it off".
Judge Gabbett said that he had to take into consideration the children’s views "and the children are probably very religious themselves and this is quite important when you are doing preparatory work at school".
Judge Gabbett told the mother if it gets back that she doesn’t want her child to celebrate the First Holy Communion it could make the matter worse.
Judge Gabbett cautioned against the woman’s young children going to visit her in prison to say what they thought about the First Holy Communion.
He said: "They would never forget that. It would be a terrible thing to put a child through."
Judge Gabbett said to the woman "think carefully about - to bring them into the prison to see you - do you want that experience for them?"
Judge Gabbett said that it would not be pleasant for an eight year old to see their mother locked up in prison.
The mother said that she needs to have that conservation and Judge Gabbett said that this could be done via video-link.
Judge Gabbett asked the child’s independent voice or Guardian ad Litem to get the views of the school teacher of the First Communion class and adjourned the case to 27 March.
