Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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543. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will address a matter (details supplied) regarding the Mediation Bill 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21632/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Mediation Bill will introduce an obligation on solicitors and barristers to advise any person wishing to commence legal proceedings to consider mediation as a means of resolving a dispute before embarking on such proceedings. It will also provide that a court may, following the commencement of proceedings, on its own initiative or at the request of a party to the proceedings, invite all the parties to consider mediation as an alternative means of resolving the dispute and suspend the proceedings to facilitate that process.

The Mediation Bill is currently being drafted in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. While it is not possible to give a specific date for publication of the Bill at this stage, I intend to proceed quickly with enactment of the Bill following its publication later this year.