Consultation Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution - Law Reform ...

E Mediation
(1) Family Mediation: An Overview
5.37 The 2007 Report prepared for the Courts Service Family Law
Reporting Pilot Project suggests that the unplanned development of the family
law system in Ireland has led to a situation where, ― …lists are overcrowded;
cases, including urgent cases involving matters on the welfare of children, are
adjourned for weeks or months at a time. Practices and procedures can vary
from district to district and circuit to circuit, compounding a general lack of
information about how the family law system works.‖ 44 In responding to the
Report, the then Minister for Justice stated ―We have to examine whether there
could be some procedure short of the courts that could be used to resolve
differences. A full court hearing in a family law case is a bit like a tribunal of
inquiry for a politician." 45 Mediation is one of the methods by which family law
disputes can be resolved and the need to use it for the resolution of family law
disputes has been widely acknowledged.
5.38 In 1985, the Joint Committee on Marriage Breakdown described the
essential features of mediation as follows: 46
that it accepted that the marriage had broken down and was therefore
totally different from reconciliation;
that it conveyed the idea that the parties should be responsible for
resolving their own disputes; and
that it was designed to deal with specific problems caused by
breakdown and provided a basis for continued interaction and cooperation
between the spouses.
5.39 As noted by the Family Mediation Service, issues which can be
addressed and resolved by family mediation include:
The family home – where will each person live and where will the
children live?
44 Coulter Family Law Reporting Pilot Project: Report to the Board of the Courts
Service (Courts Service, October 2007) at 58.
45 ―Lenihan to urge more family mediation‖ The Irish Times 13th October 2007. In
2007, 4,081 applications for divorce and 1,689 applications for judicial separation
were received by the Circuit Court. 5,210 applications for custody and access
were dealt with by the District Courts. A further 4,448 maintenance applications
were dealt with in the District Courts. (Courts Service Annual Report 2007 at 28).
46 Report of the Joint Committee on Marriage Breakdown (March 1985), Chapter 8.
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