James McDaid
Question:2 Dr. McDaid asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform if he has satisfied himself that the marriage mediation services are on an adequate basis to meet demand. [12418/97]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Priority Questions. - Family Mediation Services.
Ivor Callely
Question:32 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the likely demand for mediation services over the next five years; the provisions, if any, made in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12335/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 32 together.
Family mediation is currently available from two centres operated by the Family Mediation Service of my Department. One is located at the Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1, while the other is at Mill House, Limerick.
It is my objective that where couples have decided to separate, as many of them as possible would avail of mediation to facilitate agreement on issues such as finance, property and child custody without having recourse to the adversarial courts system. The use of litigation and adversarial procedures in family disputes can have very negative effects on the family and in particular on any children of the relationship. The truth of this is well recognised and, in 1994, support for this view was available when, in the introduction to the Consultation Paper on Family Courts, the Law Reform Commission said:
It needs to be recognised that judicial proceedings, even though conducted with informality, and sensitivity, are not therapeutic exercises and that it is not possible to exclude from them some element of confrontation. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to avoid judicial proceedings where it is possible to do so without risk of injustice to the persons concerned.
Subsequently, the Law Reform Commission in its 1996 report recommended a strong shift in emphasis away from the adversarial process and towards mediation — Recommendation No. 40. For this reason I hope an increasing number of separating couples will come to see mediation as the means of making arrangements best suited to their needs for their future as separated people, and for the needs of their families.
It was with this in mind that I placed the family mediation service on a permanent footing and embarked on a development and expansion programme that is beginning now to bear fruit. As part of a programme for the development and expansion of the family mediation service, two new posts of area mediation co-ordinator were filled recently following a competition held under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission. One post was for the original centre at the Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin; the other was for the new centre established at Mill House in Limerick. These appointees are responsible for the delivery of a quality mediation service with the assistance of a team of mediators, each with his own geographical areas of responsibility. In addition, another competition was held recently to recruit a number of part-time mediators for the family mediation service. I am hopeful appointments from this competition will be made very soon.
The appointment of the area mediation co-ordinators will help to facilitate the establishment of a scheme for the use of mediators in private practice who have the necessary training and experience and otherwise meet the standards set by the family mediation service, to provide family mediation at locations distant from a family mediation centre or to relieve pressure on the centres at Dublin and Limerick. The allocation of cases to private mediators would be done through the family mediation service.
It is not possible to gauge what the demands for mediation will be over the next five years. Many of those couples, 3,250 approximately, who have availed of mediation since the family mediation service was first established in 1986, would now satisfy the criteria necessary for a divorce. Therefore, in addition to existing and new applications to the family mediation service for mediation, some couples who have already mediated agreements may return to review their agreement in the light of a divorce application. However, having regard to progress to date, I am satisfied the foundations are now laid for the development of a family mediation service that will be capable of responding in a structured way to whatever demands are placed on it in the future.
We would all agree that mediation is the way forward, and statistics indicate that 55 per cent of people who go through mediation are satisfied with it and another 25 per cent come to some agreement. Despite that, the Minister's Department allocated only £300,000 to the family mediation service last year. I understand, the same is available this year. I accept the Minister is doing his utmost for the service, but in the context of the £20 million it costs to go through the adversarial court system, surely more funding should be allocated to the area of mediation, given that most couples want to address their situation in this way because they get better counselling and advice in this way. The Family Mediation Service is in the shadow of the courts. It is the solicitors and barristers who are benefiting from the good objective the Minister has set out. We all agree that mediation is available, but it will be only lip service if funding is not provided.
The Deputy's question is too long. The time allocated for dealing with the first three priority questions is almost exhausted and we have not yet reached No. 3. We may not be able to deal with No. 3.
When I took over responsibility for the Family Mediation Service in 1993 it consisted of just one centre in Dublin. Since then resources have approximately doubled and we have opened a second centre in Limerick. The way forward is to use either private mediators with the necessary expertise and qualifications or voluntary organisations under the auspices of the Family Mediation Service. As I stated on previous occasions, we do not as yet have an adequate supply of trained professional mediators. The number of people available to provide the service is relatively small, but the centres in Dublin and Limerick will facilitate the training of more mediators. As professional mediators come on stream, some means will have to be provided to avail of their necessary skills. While I generally agree with Deputy McDaid's comments, I am sure he will agree that remarkable progress has been made since 1993. The service was rather tenuous when I took it over since it was set up on a temporary basis. I made it permanent, opened an additional centre and recruited staff. More are to be recruited soon. They will use private mediators and voluntary organisations under the umbrella of the Family Mediation Service. We have established a solid base and I look forward to ongoing improvements as staff become available in future years.
While I accept what the Minister said, he did not indicate if additional funding will be provided for the service. People are concerned about the privately regulated system of mediation the Minister has set up. The majority of the funding is going into the legal rather than mediation aspect of the service. The Family Mediation Service holds that funding unregulated private mediation is not the way forward.
The funding provided is for the Family Mediation Service which does not charge fees. Many people avail of that worthwhile service. The future of family law rests more and more in the area of mediation. I do not accept people are frightened of using the service. If that is the case they are quickly put at ease. Great care and time is allocated to individual cases. The funding available in the Department this year is adequate, but it will have to be reviewed each year at budget time.