Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister of State and join in commending Senator Conway on putting this motion on the agenda to give Members an opportunity to discuss this matter in the Chamber. I certainly concur with Senators O'Donovan and Bacik about urging the Minister to bring the Bill before the Seanad first and I hope a clear date will be given in this regard. I believe the Seanad is highly conducive to this type of Bill, by virtue of the manner and the environment in which it works and on such issues, it has proven itself to be a good forum. As Members have stated, the area of mediation that requires legislation ranges across the medical, family, civil, personal injury, property and commercial fields. While this is quite a wide area, obviously, the area I know best is family law and that is where my main focus will be today However, on reading the motion tabled, the first thing I did was to contact Ms Josepha Madigan, who I believe has written the only book to be written in Ireland on appropriate dispute resolution. While Ms Madigan is a family lawyer, she also is a practising mediator and a former council member of the Mediators Institute of Ireland. Consequently, for my contribution today, I have gleaned knowledge and have taken quite a lot of information from her because she is an expert in this area. I should also note she is a Fine Gael councillor, so one side of the House will be happy and I will not comment on the other.