Galway Advertiser 2003/2003_04_03/GA_03042003_E1_012.pdf 

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Tuam man wins Scottish child Mandela to expert to speak . . ^ access to children at conference VlSlt IN U l , i n Georgia ruling Galway
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BY UNA SINNOTT TUAM MAN Dermot Henry was granted access to his two young daughters by the Supreme Court in Georgia earlier this week, following a two year legal battle which began when Henry's estranged wife took the children to the former Soviet republic without his prior knowledge. Henry, a former manager of the Glenlo Abbey Hotel, travelled to Georgia last month to appeal a previous High Court decision denying him access to his daughter Marianne (9) at his home in Tuam for two weeks twice yearly. On Tuesday the Supreme Court moved to grant his access to both Marianne and Nicole (4) in Ireland. A proposal put forward by Henry in which he agreed to fund the travel and accommodation expenses of his former spouse, allowing her to accompany the children to Ireland for the next two years, was accepted by the court. Both children may travel to visit their father unaccompanied from November 2005. "A breakthrough agreement was finally reached based on a proposal I offered to the court which provides for both children to travel to Ireland from this coming summer and twice yearly," Henry explained in an e-mail from Georgia. "This was a significant improvement on the motion before the court that would have allowed only Marianne to travel under a British Airways programme. Overall I consider this to be a satisfactory conclusion and the end of a nightmare over two years to gain access to my children." The High Court had ruled last November that the children would never have been allowed to travel without their mother accompanying them. The appeal marked the first time which Henry has seen his daughters since his former wife took them from the couple's home in the middle of the night in July 2001 and returned to her native Georgia. Henry, who had also sought to invoke the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, has agreed to drop legal proceedings against his former wife. BY MARY O ' C O N N O R A SCOTTISH child psychologist and author of numerous books on child and family development will speak at a c h i l d c a r e conference on T h u r s d a y A p r i l 10 a t t h e Clarinbridge Quality Hotel from 9.30am to 3.30pm. Dr Richard C Woolfson will speak on "Establishing Positive Relationships with Children" at the event which is being organised by the Galway City & County Childcare Committee. A well known author, he contributes to magazines, such as Practical Parenting, as well as being a member of the Guardian newspaper's Parents Panel.He also runs training workshops at