Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot accept amendment No. 28 in the name of my colleague, Deputy Madigan. It is appropriate where a court, under section 16, has invited parties to consider the use of mediation and the parties have accepted that invitation that the mediator should be required to provide a factual statement on the outcome of the mediation process to the court.

On Committee Stage, I agreed to reflect further on whether section 17(1)(b)(iii) should be retained. That provides that where no mediation settlement has been reached, the mediator's report back to the court should indicate whether, in the opinion of the mediator, the parties engaged fully in that mediation. It was pointed out on Committee Stage that this could impinge upon the independence of the mediator, the confidentiality of the mediation in some cases and the willingness of the parties or otherwise to invest in the process. Despite the existence of similar provisions in other legislation, I have formed the view that in this Bill, matters would be better served by the deletion of the provision, which is the purpose of amendments Nos. 29 to 31, inclusive.

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