Work it out — experts gather for forum on art of mediation

In the face of rising family, commercial, industrial relations and community disputes, international experts on the art of mediation will gather in Maynooth today to give advice on how best to find working solutions.

The three-day conference, which will be formally opened by former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, will be attended by 200 delegates, including mediation practitioners, trade union officials as well as policy makers. They will be addressed by experts from Britain, the US, Europe and Ireland. The event is being held at NUI Maynooth’s Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention.

Ahead of the conference, the institute’s executive director Peter Cassells said that over the past number of decades, mediation had continued to evolve as an internationally recognised discipline and that Ireland had remained at the forefront of its development. He also pointed out the importance of mediation structures to Irish society today.