Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and wish him every success in his new role. As a practising solicitor I am a little concerned at the views expressed on this area by some people. I think the Minister will agree with me. Solicitors do everything possible to get a resolution to a dispute. If one looks at cases listed for hearing, one will find that in the vast majority of cases people try to get them settled. When it comes to the day of the hearing, one will find that anything up to 70% to 80% of cases listed for a particular day will settle on the day because people will know they are leaving it in the hands of a third party to make the final decision.

Those in the legal profession make every effort to bring resolution to a dispute at a very early stage and try to close the file and move on to the next item. From my experience of an arbitration matter I was involved in, because it was the contract our clients had entered into, we had to go through the arbitration process rather than go through the litigation process. After 30 days, we were still on the first witness. For 11 days there was a dispute about whether there was one contract or five. I welcome the Bill. It is important but it is also important it is not used as a delaying process. I am very concerned about the Statute of Limitations where the time used for mediation is not counted, so it is most important that the system is not abused.There should be no loophole that allows a party to use the mediation process to delay the entire procedure. I have been involved in litigation and one matter in which I have been involved has been ongoing for 16 years. One of the parties has used the court system extensively and that has involved everything up to judicial review of a Circuit Court judge to the High Court and on to the Supreme Court, knowing at the time that there was a delay of up to four years in getting a hearing in the Supreme Court. There are people who can and will use a process to suit themselves. If we find four or five years after passing this Bill into law that it must be tweaked, we should be prepared to do that.

Overall, however, I welcome the Bill. It is important that an experienced person conducts the mediation of disputes. I refer back to the arbitration matter I was dealing with, where we found that the person dealing with it was not of real assistance in bringing forward early decisions on questions that were being asked. In arbitration it is important that the arbitrator is able to bring people along and ensure that there is compromise at each step so an overall agreement can be reached.

My colleague, Deputy Ardagh, raised the cost of mediation. One of the cost issues, especially with mediation, is the cost of booking independent facilities. In the arbitration I referred to, an arbitration centre was booked along with adjoining rooms. After 30 days there was a huge bill. It is important that this is not abused in the case of mediation, whereby one of the parties is eventually forced to arrive at an agreement that is far less than what that party would have been entitled to. All of these issues must be taken into account when dealing with mediation to ensure people are dealt with in a fair and proper manner.

I thank the Minister and the Department for bringing the legislation forward.