Dr. Róisín O'Shea:

I like to speak on the basis of empirical data, so if Mr. Ó hUallacháin makes a statement, I ask him to prove it. I know of no data anywhere in the world that would support what he said, namely, that there is proof that where there is a non-lawyer mediator scenario, there is bullying in the mediation process. My view is that this is anecdotal. If he can find the evidence, I am wide open to looking at it. We are running a research project to tease this out and see if we can deal with domestic violence. By domestic violence, we mean cases where there is an allegation of domestic violence, including psychological abuse, coercive control and physical violence. It is a substantial area. Where there are court orders to say that it is a result of physical violence, that may be screened out. We screen clients before we even do the mediation but most cases where there are domestic violence allegations can be mediated. Some 25% of the 50 cases we have addressed so far included domestic violence allegations. We are not on our own in this dialogue. It is happening in other countries which are trying to figure out how we do it best.

Drugs and alcohol are the two most significant issues that I see in the Circuit Court and the District Court, and the other problems flow from that, including domestic violence. The mediator to whom Mr. Ó hUallacháin refers is a mediator who is doing a really bad job, who allows a power imbalance to happen and a dominant personality to in any way bully or control the process. I am probably being a bit hard on Mr. Ó hUallacháin but the context probably justifies what he said. The context is that in Ireland, we developed family mediation that is unique and different to any other jurisdiction that I looked at. We began in the 1980s with a Catholic ethos, coming from the background of Accord, and we developed a form of family therapy mediation unique to this country. We do some great stuff. This was incredible in the 1980s. No other country started off a state family mediation service. We did it in Ireland. It was incredibly innovative but it has not evolved enough.

What Mr. Ó hUallacháin probably feels is the norm, a process with two people being in the same room at the same time with a single mediator doing a form of family therapy allowing them to vent and address issues, is not the norm. Our process is bi-gender and it is co-mediation. There are male and female mediators so that men do not feel that women are all over the process. There are separate mediations which we call parallel mediation. When people are in conflict, one initially works with them separately. We see them within ten days and try to get the first parenting agreement within another ten days. That first parenting agreement is six weeks long because everybody stays in the fight or flight space and in those six weeks we try to tease out a test run. Before they get to the end of the six weeks, we take them into a three-month period, then into a six-month period, then to here. Each agreement evolves with the family. Where there are domestic violence allegations, we try to figure it out. Five of the 50 cases involved domestic violence allegations. There were subsequently proceedings and an application was made. Four made undertakings through the mediation process to the court where the judge accepted those undertakings. An undertaking is where a person swears, on oath to the judge, to the same effect as a protection order or safety order.