An Irishman is to go before the Sri Lankan High Court this week seeking an order that his daughter be returned to her native Netherlands with him.
Whether he succeeds however, Ciarán Ó Faoláin - originally from Dublin and now working in the Netherlands - says he is being "hampered" by the refusal of the Irish passport office to issue his daughter, an Irish citizen, with a passport.
If he cannot get a passport for Maya (4) he says they could be "trapped" in Sri Lanka.
Child law expert Geoffrey Shannon described Mr Ó Faoláin's case as "very exceptional".
Referring to the difficulties in getting the child a passport, Mr Shannon, who also sits on the board of the Irish Centre for Parentally Abducted Children, said: "This is the first case I've seen of this type, and there does appear to be a slight lacuna in Irish law."
Mr Ó Faoláin was granted full custody of Maya by a Dutch court in March after his former wife, Tejshree Thapa, failed to return with their daughter from a "holiday" to Nepal.
Ms Thapa, a former researcher with the UN in the Hague, is Nepalese. According to Mr Ó Faoláin, she moved from Nepal to Sri Lanka in February after a royal coup in Nepal made the state unsafe.
Due to Ms Thapa's refusal to return Maya to the Netherlands, the Dutch Central Authority has asked that the Sri Lankan ministry of justice "take promptly all appropriate measures to secure the immediate return of the child" to the Netherlands.
It made the application last month under the Hague Convention. The Netherlands is Maya's country of "habitual residence".
Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and Ireland are all signatories to the Hague Convention, and custody orders made in any must be respected by other signatory states.
Mr Ó Faoláin, who is currently in Sri Lanka, has been unable to take custody of Maya. Speaking to The Irish Times at the weekend he said he was optimistic of partial success before the Sri Lankan High Court on Thursday, when he will seek orders
preventing the removal of Maya from Sri Lanka, and,
that Maya be immediately placed in his sole custody.
However, the Irish passport office is refusing to issue Maya with a passport or emergency travel document without the consent of her mother.
The office cites the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 which seeks the consent of both parents before issuing a passport.
In correspondence seen by The Irish Times, John Neary, head of the consular and passport section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, tells Mr Ó Faoláin "the fact that you have been awarded custody of the child . . . does not dispense with the requirement" for Ms Thapa's consent.
Maya travelled to Nepal on her mother's passport.
The only way this requirement can be overturned is with a court order dispensing with one parent's consent.
Mr Ó Faoláin is, therefore, also seeking on Thursday that the court have regard for "the requirements of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland . . . by ordering the immediate return of the subject child, Maya Ó Faoláin, to the Netherlands". He said that if this order was not granted he and Maya could be trapped in Sri Lanka.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it could not comment on the case.
