Funding deficits hinder access to mediation for disadvantaged communities, a new report by an organisation that provides free legal assistance has found.
Commissioned by Community Law & Mediation (CLM) and funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), the report – published on Tuesday – focused on communities who, due to economic, social, or other forms of disadvantage, are unable to access mediation.
Mediation is a voluntary process whereby parties involved in a dispute mutually agree to meet a professional, impartial mediator who guides them in exploring potential resolutions and collaborates with them to determine the outcome.
The research is the first of its kind to map community mediation in Ireland, CLM said. It found a deficit in funding for mediation and a lack of services beyond the State-funded family mediation service for separating couples.
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CLM chief executive Aoife Kelly-Desmond said there is a lack of “knowledge and understanding around how valuable mediation can be for people”.
Limited awareness and knowledge about what mediation is, as well as geographic disparities affecting rural areas, were noted in the report as further challenges to access.
The report outlined “significant but largely untapped potential” for mediation as a means of preventing and resolving disputes in a community context, including conflict within the wider family, neighbour disputes and conflicts within communities.
CLM said the research was “especially timely with the long-awaited Mediation Council soon to be established and given the emphasis on mediation in the proposed development of a new civil legal aid support system”.
The organisation’s services are delivered by a panel of 34 accredited volunteers based in Limerick, Coolock in Dublin, and Wicklow.
Conflict coaching and community dialogue processes were highlighted as tools that “can play a vital role” in easing tensions or preparing individuals for mediation.
Speaking about recent violent crimes directed at refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland, report author Dr Heidi Riley said mediation could act as “a potential tool for reducing antagonism between different groups”.
This, she said, is a particularly useful finding of the report “in the context of a very polarising society at the moment and the targeting of new communities”. Dr Riley stressed the importance of encouraging a diverse range of mediators into the sector.
