Mediation scheme called for as alternative to courts

THE Law Reform Commission (LRC) has urged the Government to set up a pilot mediation scheme in the district courts as an alternative to protracted litigation.

The recommendation is one of a number of sweeping legal reforms advised by the LRC.

In a consultation paper launched by Mr Justice Peter Kelly, the commission makes a number of key recommendations for law reform.

The consultation paper examines the growing use of alternative dispute resolution internationally and in Ireland as reflecting the increasing number of options available to help resolve civil disputes. Such disputes include commercial and consumer claims, family breakdown, industrial disputes, medical claims and property disputes.

The consultation paper was welcomed last night by Patricia Mallon, chairwoman of the Association of Collaborative Practitioners in Ireland.

“We welcome the report’s recommendation on the various methods of dispute resolution outside the courts, which include mediation, conciliation and the collaborative process,” she said. Ms Mallon, a Cork-based solicitor, said she was encouraged by the positive responses to the report’s recommendations and believed it heralded huge change in the administration of justice in Ireland.

“Within 10 years we believe this will become the mainstream method of dispute resolution and that the current practice of combative litigation will be much less in evidence,” said Ms Mallon, a partner in Daly Solicitors.

Key recommendations being made by the LRC include a statutory definition of mediation and the training and accreditation of mediation practitioners to agreed international standards.

The commission also says that mediation and conciliation should be part of a fully integrated civil justice system and that the courts should be able to enforce an agreement made at mediation or conciliation.

The alternative of mediation was highlighted recently in the land dispute between RTÉ’s Pat Kenny and his neighbour Gerard Charlton. The dispute was settled after the judge warned both parties of the consequences of a “bitter and costly” High Court action.