Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I believe this is very important. What we are trying to do with this Bill is facilitate a major transfer away from the court process of dispute resolution. It could potentially be a really important thing for citizens, but it has to be done right. Done right it would be brilliant, but done wrong it could cause a huge amount of damage. The Bill is full of aspirations about a code of practice but there is no meat behind it. There is nothing to require that to be drawn up and there is nothing to require the mediator to sign up to it. As the Bill is currently constructed, somebody could go and do an online diploma course, put "association of professional mediators" or whatever beside his or her name, hand over the code of practice and then be on exactly the same level playing field as somebody who has been highly trained, who has upskilled and who has done it all. That is just too dangerous. We have seen too many rogue operators at there. I appreciate that my staff are obviously more clinical than the staff in Deputy Wallace's office in terms of drafting the amendment. Our amendments Nos. 13 and 14-----