Vol. 471 No. 3
5 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform if he has satisfied himself with the level of funding available to marriage counselling agencies and mediation services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20622/96]
15 Dr. Woods asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform his views on whether the mediation and counselling services currently available will be sufficient to meet the needs of the Family Law (Divorce) Bill, 1996; the plans, if any, he has to ensure that an adequate and professionally based service will be provided in 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20579/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 15 together.
The establishment of adequate facilities to assist in alleviating the difficulties and traumas of couples who are experiencing difficulties in their marriage, has always been a concern of mine. On my appointment as Minister for Equality and Law Reform I was determined to give practical effect to that concern. Accordingly, I accorded permanent status to the family mediation service which, since its establishment in 1986, had operated on a pilot basis with no certainty of permanence. Also, I instituted a scheme of grants for voluntary organisations which provide counselling to couples who are experiencing difficulties in their marriage.
My Department commenced funding marriage counselling organisations in 1994. Prior to then grants to these organisations were administered by the Department of Health and from time to time supplementary grants were paid by the Department of Social Welfare. In 1993, for example, approximately £300,000 was allocated by these Departments to voluntary counselling groups. In 1994 and again in 1995 my Department paid out £750,000 in grants to such groups and £900,000 is available for distribution in 1996. Also, the scheme has been extended this year to include the provision of assistance to organisations providing counselling to children of parents who had separated.
Significant tangible benefits have accrued from the scheme of grants to counselling organisations. Premises and facilities have been improved as has training for counsellors and supervisors. The total number of counselling hours provided by grantaided organisations has increased from 44,166 hours in 1993 to 69,703 hours in 1995. There has also been a very significant increase in pre-marriage courses over the years. The provision of significant and regular funding will facilitate further improvements in the provision of counselling services to couples and children.
The family mediation service operated by my Department is a professional confidential service which enables couples, who have decided to separate or who have already separated, to negotiate their own separation agreement with the help of a trained mediator, without resorting to adjudication through the courts. All issues are included in the negotiations, such as ongoing parenting of the children, the family home, family finances. pensions property and any other relevant issues relevant to the separation.
As part of a programme for development and expansion of the family mediation service, two new posts of area mediation co-ordinator have been created, one for the existing family mediation service centre at the Irish Life Mall, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin and one for the new centre at Mill House, Henry Street, Limerick. Competitions to select suitable people for these positions have been held under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission and appointments are imminent. The persons appointed will be responsible for the delivery of a quality mediation service, with the assistance of a team of mediators. each for his or her own geographical areas of responsibility.
The appointment of area mediation co-ordinators will 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 the pressure on the centres at Dublin and Limerick. The allocation of cases to private mediators would be done through the family mediation service.
Deputies can rest assured that I will continue in my endeavours to ensure that quality counselling and mediation services are available for the future and that adequate funding is made available to this end.
I agree that adequate funding should be made available for mediation and counselling services. What is the position regarding the centre in Limerick? Are there any projections on needs over the coming 12 months in relation to the number of cases or is this being done on an affordability basis rather than on the basis of presentation of cases?
It is difficult to assess the number of cases. We are expanding the service. New staff have been taken on and the Limerick centre is new. Regrettably, the number of marriage breakdowns is increasing substantially so there is a need for this service. One anticipates it will be an increasing phenomenon.
Mediation is a very important service as it enables many couples to avoid having recourse to the courts with the trauma, expense and delay that involves. Research also shows this is desirable in that when a separation arrangement is negotiated voluntarily between the parties through mediation, it has greater chance of being respected in all its aspects than one imposed by a court. I have always regarded the provision of a mediation service as important. That is the reason I secured the necessary finance for the second centre in Limerick. I will complete the arrangements as soon as possible to avail of the services of private mediators in other locations. Unfortunately, there are not too many. Those who are available and suitably qualified and who are prepared to participate in this arrangement through the family mediation service will be placed on its books and their services will be availed of.
The Minister said there was an increase of more than 50 per cent in the hours of counselling between 1993 and 1995. Has the Minister estimated the increase for next year? The Family Law (Divorce) Bill, 1996, comes back to the House from the Seanad next week. Presumably, it will go to the President for signature. Within a short time its provisions will be implemented. Has the Minister estimated the level of counselling which will need to be provided after the Bill is passed when there will be an expected increase in the number seeking counselling?
It is always difficult to forecast the level of marriage breakdown and the requirement for counselling services. There has been a substantial improvement in facilities available due to the increase in grants. The number of hours I mentioned were for 1995. I imagine the number of hours that will be availed of will be even greater in 1996. This is something which my Department will have to monitor carefully as time goes by. We are in close consultation with the marriage counselling organisations which do remarkable work, mainly voluntary. We will review the situation from time to time and make whatever arrangements are reasonably possible and necessary.
Marriage counselling arose in the context of marriage breakdown rather than divorce which will add a new dimension to the situation. The unavailability of a divorce jurisdiction, did not stop marriages breaking down in increasing numbers in the years for which we have statistics. The marriage counselling organisations have been addressing that. By and large, they are reasonably content with the level of funding and assistance we have given them in the past couple of years. That is not to say we provide enough. No matter how much one provides in such a situation, more can always be used.
We have a good relationship with these organisations and they appreciate the funding we have made available to them. It has enabled them to make sea changes in the service they provide not only in the hours of service delivered but also in the quality and calibre of service. They have used part of the grant money to improve the level of training and expertise of counsellors, which is important. Not only has the volume of the service increased, but so too has the quality. The organisations are anxious to provide the most professional counsellors.
I compliment the Minister on the increased allocation to marriage counselling and mediation services. We must acknowledge that funding increased from £300,000 to £900,000 between 1993 to 1996. We are talking, to a large extent, about marriage breakdown and what happens after that. Will the Minister outline what grants are available to improve pre-marriage counselling and advice services to ensure those getting married know what they face?
Most of the organisations provide pre-marriage counselling as well as counselling to couples whose marriages are in difficulty or have broken down. Another factor which has been introduced following consultation is the question of counselling for children. That is something which Deputy Woods, in particular, will welcome as it is an issue on which he has focused. It is nice to be able to tell the House that it is an increasingly important aspect of the work of counselling organisations.
As regards the money available, £900,000 is available for distribution in 1996 to the marriage counselling organisations. I cannot say what the figure will be in 1997 as it has not been determined. A large number of counselling organisations have been grant aided, the largest being ACCORD which is a nationwide organisations. ACCORD provides an excellent professional service at various locations. Other organisations are locally based in Cork and elsewhere. There is a long list of organisations and we do the best we can for them in recognition of the remarkable service which so many who work in them provide voluntarily. They deserve our thanks and appreciation for that work.
I welcome the increase in funding for marriage counselling. Do we place too much emphasis on family mediation rather than on marriage counselling? Most or all the funding for marriage counselling goes to voluntary bodies. However, the Government is setting up family mediation agencies. More emphasis should be placed on trying to keep marriages together. As Deputy Woods said, there was an increase of more than 50 per cent in hours between 1993 and 1995. I notice that in the same period funding increased by 150 per cent. Why has there not been a corresponding increase in the number of hours?
The Minister spoke about the improved quality of the service. How does his Department monitor that and ensure a quality service? The Minister said one of the problems in the family mediation area is the lack of qualified professionals. Are there any plans in place to provide additional training so that we will have more professional mediators?
There are no immediate plans for a further family mediation centre. The centre in Limerick is the first to be opened since the original formation of the family mediation service with its initial centre in Dublin. My concern is to get the Limerick centre operating and also the scheme involving the private mediators. When that operation is in place and working well we can reassess the situation. By that time the divorce jurisdiction will be operational and we can see if any further expansion is required, appropriate or possible in the context of the availability of the trained mediators without whom none of this could operate.
The question of training of mediators is not a matter for my Department but the national organisation is doing its best in this regard. The main advantage of having the additional centre in Limerick is that it and the Dublin centre will be a source of training and practical experience for new mediators because the people working there will have the opportunity to gain the necessary practice and experience. One can have all the education one likes but without the practical experience on the ground of dealing with these cases, the full benefit cannot be achieved from it.
For the information of Members who are obviously interested in the whole mediation concept, I thought I knew something about this but I was taken aback when I visited the Family Mediation Centre in Dublin at the remarkable way in which the system operates. One would think that a couple goes in for an hour or two but it is not at all like that. for each couple it is an extraordinarily extensive process involving six hours or more. Every aspect of the family is examined — children, pensions, income, property division and so on. Every detail of the marriage is gone through in a relaxed manner and with great care. That is a time consuming operation and one can imagine the great skill that is required on the part of the mediators. It is an excellent State service.
Deputy Kenneally wanted to know the reason the number of hours available has not increased pro rata with the additional grant aid. That is not an easy question to answer and there may be various explanations for it. The range and type of counselling is expanding. Pre-marriage counselling and counselling for children is on the increase and the quality of the service is improving. Greater effort is being applied, and they are right in this regard, by the marriage counselling organisations to additional training for counsellors because great skill is required on their part, not quite to the same level as applies to mediators, but it is nonetheless of importance in the critical work they do.
The Minister told us he cannot say how much the Government will allocate to this service next year, and I appreciate that is a matter for the forthcoming Estimate, but I asked him to indicate the estimated requirement for next year. His Department must have done some calculation on this. We have told the public we are concerned about this matter and that we will try to anticipate their needs and meet them accordingly. Has the Minister's Department done any work on estimating the needs in mediation for next year? I assume that has been done and that there is an estimate of the demand because the new legislation will be enacted next year and it is therefore a critical issue.
The marriage counselling organisations carry out their own assessments of requirements and submit their applications to my Department for grant aid to enable them meet those requirements. As far as I know the demands on the voluntary marriage counselling organisations are met and any person who requires counselling can have reasonably ready access to that service by one or other of the counselling organisations. That is something they keep under review and we are in consultation with them on it. The counselling requirement is reasonably met by the voluntary organisations with the assistance of the grant aid we provide. I do not have a particular calculation of the estimated number of marriage breakdowns in the years ahead but it is substantial and that is the reason substantially increased funding has been provided by my Department for that purpose. That position will be kept under ongoing review.
I suggest to the Minister that not only should there be an examination of the numbers of people who might approach counselling services but his Department should have a role in calculating the current waiting period for those services. I was on the executive of a marriage counselling service and we were of the view that the quicker people availed of a counselling service, the better chance they had of some type of reconciliation. The earlier the intervention, the better are the prospects for the future. Is it proposed, either by the Minister's Department or the Department of Health, to have a register of mediators and to have some acknowledgment of the level of training required in this area? Is that currently monitored and, if not, will it be monitored in the future?
As I understand it there is currently no statutory base for the professional mediator but the national organisation operates some system in that regard on an ad hoc basis to which its own members are affiliated. I do not know the standards it applies; that possibly comes under the ambit of another Minister. I do not have a particular role although I accepted an amendment in the Seanad yesterday that will enable me to make regulations in that regard. That is something which may arise at a later stage but it does not arise now.
