While I am watching hailstones the size of peas fall in the West of Ireland, a good number of my colleagues are celebrating the culmination of the ICC’s Mediation Competition in Paris, where in excess of 60 teams of mediators and negotiators compete to resolve disputes through mediation. The relevance of this to today’s blog…

One could be forgiven for assuming that the EU has bigger things to worry about these days than whether the EU Mediation Directive has had its desired impact, and therefore the most recent European Parliament Resolution on this area has passed under the radar – at least my radar – until now. Drawing on various…

Finally, after many twists and turns, lobbying, and a not insignificant amount of blogging on my part, Ireland’s new Mediation Act, 2017 was signed into law by the President on 2nd October 2017. For those unfamiliar with my rantings and ravings (other than the learned discussions of my colleagues) over the years, a little background:…

What a different a month makes! A new EU Recommendation on Mediation, the launch of this year’s Mediation Awareness Week and a brand shiny new Mediation Act, 2017. Yes, the long awaited legislation that I have been blogging about for years now was finally signed into law by the President this week. This development fits…

Every year hundreds, if not thousands, of seats are sold on mediation training courses in Ireland and the UK alone. Most of these courses end with motivated, excited and passionate new mediators going out into the world looking to do their bit to change how conflict is dealt with. What they have usually not been…

In the next few weeks, my first cohort of Masters in Conflict Management students will be submitting their research dissertations. Meanwhile next year’s are beginning to think about the research topics. For me, this is terribly exciting. I get to see the results and outcomes of the research completed, and help the new students choose…

It’s a no brainer, right? Of course mediation should be free, then many more people would use it, it would solve the problem of court waiting lists and huge legal aid bills right? Shouldn’t it? Or should it. What does free really mean? Free for whom? These questions arise out of the current debate here…

* The views expressed here are entirely my own! Nine years after its conception by the Law Reform Commission, a draft Mediation Law, the Mediation Bill 2017, was officially presented to the Irish parliament by the Minister for Justice this week and the debate on its provisions was thereby initiated. Rafal Morek has outlined what…

This year, I think I have seen more articles on why and how NOT to make New Year’s Resolutions than making them. I’m not sure what this says about us, or about such resolutions, but, never one to miss an opportunity to make a nice list, I have made some mediation-specific resolutions nonetheless. First of…