Increase in demand for mediation service

COUPLES from Clare engaging with the free Family Mediation Service and the ancillary mediation service at the Citizens’ Information Office in Ennis are on the rise, which has prompted a call for an outreach mediation service in the county.

The call has come from Paul Woulfe, manager of the local Citizens’ Information Office, as he highlighted that the State-run mediation office servicing Clare is in Limerick City. This, he said, puts an added pressure on couples from rural communities, who need to travel a great distance to engage with the service.

 

“There should be a service in Clare. It is a pity that the family mediation service doesn’t have an outreach into Clare, even once a week because, again, there is a lot of misconception about what mediation is. We find that this service is very important, particularly now in today’s climate with a lot of people separating. A lot of people think mediation is about bringing people together again – it’s not. There is a great value in it, it can be very therapeutic, it can create better relations, it’s beneficial to all the parties involved and it is free.

“We would be conscious that the free service is in Limerick. People will have to travel and both parties have to agree to sign up to it. Waiting lists can be a concern too because that can mean there is a need for more mediators. At times things can de-escalate and if people could see the service within a couple of weeks, it would be preferable. If there was a service in Clare, particularly for people in rural areas, people wouldn’t have to travel,” Mr Woulfe outlined.

Speaking on the need for further investment in mediation services, Mary Cashin, a commercial mediator in Ennis, said, “I think there is an onus on our politicians to make provision for the mediation process. I have no doubt that whatever cost is involved would be fully offset by the saving in court personnel as a result of fewer cases going to court”.

The Family Mediation Service, set up in 1986, is a State-run service staffed by professionally trained and accredited mediators under the auspices of the statutory family support agency. There are 16 offices in the country and the office catering for Clare is located in Limerick City at Mill House, Henry Street.

The Family Mediation Service encourages separating couples to cooperate with each other in working out mutually acceptable arrangements on all or any of the following: parenting the children, financial support, family home and property, pensions and other issues related to the separation.

The mediator’s role is to see a couple together and look at issues to be discussed and agreed, to create a climate in which neither party dominates but in which both parties participate fully in good faith, to create and maintain an atmosphere of cooperation and responsibility, to help couples deal with difficult emotional issues that can prevent them reaching agreement and help couples reach agreement that they both find acceptable.

It is a confidential service and the service has found that decisions taken together are more likely to be honoured. Mediation also promotes communication and cooperation, reducing bitterness and distress.
Parents are helped to remain as partners in childrearing by developing parenting plans that suit their particular circumstances and, in addition, parents are helped to manage conflict in a way that protects the best interests of their children.

Most mediations end with a written document that sets out the details of the couple’s agreement. This can be taken to solicitors to be drawn into a legal contract or legal deed of separation and/or used as the basis for a decree of divorce.

For the first six months of the year, over 100 couples from the Clare area enquired about the Family Mediation Service in Limerick. Of those, about 30 couples went onto a waiting list to engage with the service. The waiting list in Limerick has meant, in some cases, a wait of 10 to 12 weeks.

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Carmel Savage, regional manager for the Family Mediation Service in the West and South-West of Ireland, explained waiting lists in the Limerick office have come down significantly in the past six months.

“We have put a lot of funding into bring down our waiting lists and we’ve gone from a waiting list of eight months down to two months in the last six months. When the waiting lists were very high, people were saying there was no point in contacting us. So that has much improved. This issue of providing an outreach service in Clare has been ongoing for a long number of years,” she said.

She acknowledged the need for such a service to be provided in Clare, as demand has definitely increased in her experience and she stressed such a service should cater to those in West Clare.

“We know that in particular those coming from West Clare have difficulties engaging with our service,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mr Woulfe explained the Citizens’ Information Service has a voluntary mediator, who operates an ancillary service one day a week in Ennis to low-income couples. He said this service is needed and has seen 34 couples attend sessions in the first six months of this year.

Up to 142 sessions were held with these couples, which included 21 married couples and 13 cohabitating couples. Of those, four returned to the relationship, 26 reached a mutual agreement, while four did not reach agreement.

“It would be nice to see the Family Mediation Service in Clare. At times there could be a waiting list and so it would be nice to have an outreach service here one day a week. As both in the couple have to travel, a lot of the time they are not going to want to travel together so if you have a single woman who has children and she has to attend her sessions and has to travel, it creates a difficulty. She might not have a car and if one of the partners doesn’t turn up, the session can’t go ahead,” Mr Woulfe outlined.

Commercial mediation is also available and there are many solicitors trained in mediation in the county. Ms Cashin outlined, “I am a family law mediator and my experience is that now that couples are becoming more aware of the availability of mediation to deal with various separation issues, there is more of a demand.

“I am seriously committed to mediation as it allows couples to resolve issues in a holistic and indeed a realistic way without the necessity of entering the adversarial court process. My experience is that any arrangement made by the couple themselves, rather than being imposed by a court, is much more satisfactory for the family as a whole.”