Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank the Minister for his comprehensive overview of the Mediation Bill 2017, which I welcome.

The Minister summed up the purpose of the Bill in the final points of his speech. Anything that speeds up the resolution of disputes, reduces legal costs associated with disputes, reduces long waiting times and avoids adversarial court proceedings has to be welcomed. I am reminded of what a judge said to me recently. He said that he personally would not take a case to litigation because he believes that if there is a dispute one goes to the fence and puts one's hand over it and negotiates a settlement. That is the correct thing to do and one will save the legal costs and the stress. Sometimes people get bogged down in vindictiveness and other things so that they cannot reach a settlement. People suffer significantly because of delays, costs and time in getting a resolution to a dispute as quickly as possible. Mediation can help.

Mediation is not always binding. I would like the Minister to talk through a negotiated or mediated settlement, and how binding it is. A binding settlement is really important. We need to understand that.

I want to concentrate on certain aspects of the Bill. Part 3 places obligations on practising solicitors. I do not have to mention in the House that people have been very unhappy with the legal profession and they were perceived to be involved in the resolution of a dispute. People are not always happy with the legal profession in terms of the resolution of a dispute. That is not to knock the members of the legal profession who are Members.

Part 3 of the Bill contains two key provisions relating to the obligations of solicitors and barristers as regards mediation.

Let me draw attention to section 14 which will require practising solicitors "to advise" the client to consider mediation as a means of attempting to resolve the dispute which is the subject of the proposed proceedings. Under section 14(b) a solicitor must provide the client with information in respect of mediation services, including the details of mediator services, information about the advantages and the benefits of mediation and information of confidential obligations and enforceable mediation settlements. I think that has to be welcomed. However, the solicitor has to advise. The legal profession is a business at the end of the day. Some solicitors, not all of them, will encourage litigation. That is a fact of life. Many people will have had experience of that. We need a stronger wording than "advise" in this section.

Section 14(2) states that if a practising solicitor is acting on behalf of a client who intends to institute proceedings, the originating document by which proceedings are instituted shall be accompanied by a statutory declaration made by the solicitor confirming that the obligations under section 14(1) have been discharged. What happens if this declaration is not provided? There must be a remedy. One may say that the solicitor will be asked for the declaration, but how can we be sure that the declaration is provided for? Will the Minister clarify the position of the declaration.

The Minister sets out the role of the mediation council in section 12. As this is done well, I am not going to rehearse it, but how is it intended to finance the mediation council? I understand it is envisaged in the Bill that the mediation council will be self-financing. I do not know how that works.The Minister might elaborate on how he intends the mediation council to be funded and who will contribute to that fund. In conclusion, people need speedy resolution of disputes, they want curtailed legal costs and to avoid the stress of the adversarial courts process. On the whole, therefore, I welcome the Bill, for which the Minister has my support.