The High Court has publically released a ruling in which the unregistered marriage of a 16-year-old Egyptian girl to a 29-year-old man was declared void.

It found the girl had not given her full, free informed consent to the marriage which took place in September 2010, at an Islamic centre. The girl is not an Irish citizen, but had been living here for a number of years.

The HSE took this case over concerns that the parents of a 16-year-old Egyptian girl had forced her to marry a 29-year-old man.

She was assessed by care workers as being at high risk of sexual and emotional abuse and they formed the view she needed to be immediately removed from living with this man.

After a private hearing in 2011, Mr Justice John McMenamin ruled the marriage was void, as the girl, then a minor, had not given her informed consent.

His decision has only now been made public as the judge believed at the time that publicity would adversely affect the girl’s welfare.

Having spent time in care, the girl asked to be re-united with her parents and her mother has taken her to Egypt, in breach of undertakings to the court.

The judge says every effort has been made to bring the girl back to Ireland, but - as yet - to no avail.

The case was heard in camera and the decision made in 2011 has not been in the public domain until now.