Mr. Damien Peelo:

It is a very important question. As Dr. O'Shea has said, there is quite a divide in the research. Treoir's position is that the right of a child to know and be cared for by both parents extends beyond the issue between the parents.

When it has an impact in the context of access and custody, we think that mediation can be appropriate where there is domestic violence if a child safety issue is not at stake. It all depends on the training and expertise of the mediator involved. There is training and expertise in mediation that would be able to determine whether one parent was dominant or not engaged. As Dr. O'Shea pointed out, mediation does not mean two people in the same room. It could be people - at different times, in different ways and in different spaces - who come to some agreement on how they will access the child and that it will not impact on the safety of the mother.