Irish court has jurisdiction to hear divorce proceedings where wife was habitually resident here when they were issued

Parties married in 1997 and marriage broke down in 2008 - marriage was not registered in the Registry of Marriages - in July 2014 the Circuit Court made an order declaring that the marriage was a valid marriage at its inception from May 1997 - respondent husband had previously issued proceedings against the applicant in France (the “French Proceedings”) in 2009 - French proceedings proceeded to the point that they declined jurisdiction in favour of these Courts - respondent is concerned that if this court confirms jurisdiction, that the time, effort and expense of the French Proceedings will have been wasted - respondent issued motion that seeks that an order under Article 17 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/2003 (the “Regulation”) is made stating that the Irish Courts have no jurisdiction - applicant says she is habitually resident here - what countries were the parties habitually resident for the periods of six and twelve months respectively prior to the issue of proceedings on 10th September, 2013 - respondent claims the parties spent considerable periods of time in France and that he is habitually resident there - parties spent significant time working abroad - applicant's tax residency status - conclusions on findings of fact - first property purchased in France remained matrimonial home - respondent has satisfied Court he has at all material times resided in France - Ireland was the applicant’s habitual residence on the date that she issued proceedings and that she resided principally in this jurisdiction for at least one year before the proceedings were issued - Court has jurisdiction to determine case - case remitted back to Circuit Court.