Dr. Róisín O'Shea:

Basically, right now, anybody can stick a plaque on the wall and call himself or herself a mediator because there is nothing to say otherwise. The Mediation Act sets the groundwork for where we are in this space but a mediation council is needed. Someone who is thinking about using mediation, particularly coming from a conflict space the Senator is talking about, needs to know the competency of a mediator, the training standards of the mediator, and that there is a complaints procedure and that there is somewhere the person can go if the mediator does a bad job. If they meet Mr. Ó hUallacháin's mediator, the one that allowed the bullying, in all seriousness, they need to have a forum where they can make a complaint about the negligent behaviour of that mediator. It is important.

I will go back to what I said at the start. The earliest intervention possible - Senator Black hit the nail on the head - is exactly how we should be thinking. If families know that the State has support systems, they will think they will go to this mediator immediately. In the State sector, they go to the FRC, and the mediator starts working with them and sees addiction problems or mental health problems. Mental health is popping up in many of the cases I am working with. Then that mediator can reach out within the FRC and organise for that family, parent or child to get that support in the centre's rainbow of resources. I love the way Senator Black phrased it. When one helps people that early, it stops the conflict beginning to get legs and walk.

One of the pieces here is that we all know that people do not want to be in conflict. What I would disagree on is that once people get into the war zone of the court system - I did myself - one goes to war, one is encouraged to stay at war and one will keep fighting. I did; I will hold my hand up. What we have to do is try.

This discussion is about reforming the family law courts. I reiterate that we are starting the conversation at the wrong place. We start with how do we keep people out of the family law courts and how do we keep them appropriate supports. It is early intervention.