Justice Peter Kelly
Mediation generally lead to much quicker dispute resolution as it could take place over a much shorter period than litigation, where parties have to wait for a hearing date. Mr Justice Peter Kelly was launching the Cork Resolution Centre when he said that up to 70 per cent of cases currently before him could be resolved by mediation. Mediation generally led to much quicker dispute resolution as it could take place over a much shorter period than litigation, where parties have to wait for a hearing date.
Other advantages of mediation included the fact that it was held in private and was also much less expensive than litigation.
Mediation also reduced the stress and strain suffered by people embarking on litigation, particularly in family law matters.
“The beauty of the mediated settlement is that it’s an agreed settlement – the parties have been able to come to their own solution and they are then able to live with that [whereas] a solution provided by a judge or an arbitrator is a forced solution,” he said.
“But really, the costs that are saved are nothing compared to the relationships that are saved – in the family law area people are spared going through a process that grinds them down and engenders even greater bitterness than was there at the outset.”
