Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Justice and Equality for coming to the House to give an outline of the Mediation Bill 2017.

I am a solicitor and am an accredited mediator with Mediation Forum Ireland, however I have never practised. I welcome the Bill.

The Minister has gone into the technical detail of the Bill and I will not repeat it. Fianna Fáil welcomes this overdue Bill. I am really delighted that we are debating it in the House today. Taking a case to court is a serious matter and it can be stressful, and usually it is very contentious. Ultimately if a judge has to make a decision, there is a winner and a loser. There are cost implications. The Bill encourages parties to go to mediation and puts a special onus on solicitors to try to sell the concept of mediation, so that legal costs are reduced. That is very welcome.

It must be outlined that mediation is a voluntary method of trying to resolve a dispute. Nobody will be forced to go to mediation. The mediation environment is very practical. It is not as scary as the idea of going into a courtroom with a judge and barristers in wigs and gowns. That is why mediation would appeal to the public. Mediation is offered in family law cases, but there are other types of mediation. I know that in the family law environment, the mediation services provide proper rooms. There are waiting lists for mediation. Would the Minister consider funding the family law mediation services?

People are trying to figure out, as a punter or a business person, how the mediation legislation would affect them if they were owed a debt which they wished to pursue. This is very different from family law mediation.

Commercial mediation or mediation to resolve small debts involves costs. However, they are not significant costs. Should people decide to take the mediation route, they wonder how to find a mediator. The Bar Council has a list of mediators, the Law Society has a list of mediators, so between the two parties, it is agreed on the best person to pick, based on their experiences, the cases they have handled in the past, personality types so that both parties would have respect and confidence in the mediator. This is warmly welcomed because it means the parties can choose who they want to work with to come to a mediated agreement. Usually what happens once the mediator is picked, is that the mediator takes over and perhaps organises a location to hold the mediation. One usually needs three rooms. There are practicalities involved and some expense, but it is obviously less costly than spending many full days in court.

A date will be set for the mediation, the mediator will organise the three rooms, perhaps in a hotel or conference facility, a mediator's room and a room for each of the parties. It is conducted in a much more relaxed environment. It is not a scary environment. As the Minister outlined, it is a voluntary process. The mediator will spend a lot of time talking to each party and going through the pros and cons of their cases and hopefully coming to a mediated settlement and drawing up a mediated settlement agreement. As the Minister outlined, how the agreement will be implemented is up to the parties. Much of the time it is successful, but obviously just because people enter into mediation discussions, it does not mean it will definitely be successful. Sometimes one has the risk of going down the mediation route and the agreement not working and then having to go to court. In most cases it is worth a try and it is worth putting the onus on practitioners, which I think the Bill does, to encourage parties to go down the mediation route.

I commend the Minister. The Bill is well overdue and I look forward to discussing the finer details at a later Stage in the autumn.