Courts

Husband claims wife breaching family law undertaking by switching off immersion when he is out

Couple are separated but continue to live with their children in family home

The man said a hot shower after work was 'very important'.

Gordon Deegan
Tue Mar 12 2024 - 15:02

A husband has claimed in court that his wife has breached sworn undertakings given to court in relation to the use of an immersion switch in the family home.

In the case at the Family Law Court, the warring couple each have temporary protection orders against each other and have provided sworn undertakings in court that cover the use of the house immersion switch which is to be left on during the day.

The couple are separated but continue to live with their children in the family home.

At the Family Law Court, solicitor for the husband, Lorraine O’Callaghan Daly, told Judge Alec Gabbett that “there have been breaches of the undertakings given to court in relation to the immersion switch”.

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Ms O’Callaghan Daly told the court that her client “is adamant that when he goes out in the morning, the immersion is switched on and when he comes back in the evening, it is miraculously switched off and there is plenty of cold water, no hot water”.

In response, solicitor for the wife, Ronan Connolly, told the court that the immersion is not required as there is an electric shower in the en suite bathroom attached to his client’s bedroom.

In reply, Ms O’Callaghan Daly told Judge Gabbett: “That is exactly the point – my client needs the immersion because he has agreed not to go into your client’s bedroom by way of undertaking.”

Ms O’Callaghan Daly stated that the use of the shower heated by the immersion “is very important” to her client due to the nature of the work he engages in during the day.

Mr Connolly told Judge Gabbett that it is denied that there have been any breaches of the undertaking concerning the immersion switch.

Mr Connolly said: “My client can go into the witness box and she will say categorically that she has never interfered with the immersion switch since your order and you can judge for yourself whether it stands up or not.”

Mr Connolly said the husband has recently been convicted in the District Court of a breach of a protection order.

On behalf of his client, Mr Connolly said: “We are complying religiously. We have done everything you have said. We have completed the parenting course ... everything is progressing in the Circuit Court.”

In the District Court in January, Judge Adrian Harris imposed a two month suspended prison term on the man for the protection order breach arising from another row between the couple about a shower on the morning of a child’s Confirmation last May.

As part of the conditions attached to the suspended prison term, Judge Harris ordered the man not to enter his wife’s bedroom.

Ms O’Callaghan Daly told Judge Gabbett that her client is appealing the District Court conviction and a date is awaited for the case to proceed in the Circuit Court.

At the hearing of the protection order breach in the District Court in January, the ex-wife told the court in evidence: “All through the separation it has been an absolute nightmare – I have been through hell, absolute hell for the last 18 months. All I wanted to do was end the marriage and move on with my life.

“I am only in the house because I want to raise the children in their own home, in their beds where they are safe, in their community with their friends. I just want this marriage over – I never wanted to be here.”

Judge Gabbett adjourned the hearing of the case concerning the alleged breach to May.

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