Dr Roisin O’Shea, Chair of the Irish Professional Mediators’ Organisation speaking to Radio Kerry Presenter Deirdre Walsh on ‘TalkAbout’ on April 29th 2026. Deirdre asked the question “is there another way” when speaking about resolving disputes that might be related to work, a row over a will or the break-down of a marriage. Deirdre in acknowledging that going to Court is expensive, stressful and can take a long time, noted that, “increasingly in Ireland more and more people are turning towards mediation, and the benefits of mediation as the first port of call in dealing with dispute resolution including separations or divorce ”.

Dr O’Shea outlines why the Court system and the law is not designed to resolve disputes holistically, all disputes being fundamentally about human beings, and outcomes in court are limited and often binary; mediation can deal with not only the factual basis of the dispute but the emotional dynamics behind it.

In closing the interview Dr O’Shea said, “we (IPMO) are driving up the standards of mediation, we want the public to feel really confident that when they pick an IPMO mediator they are getting somebody who operates to a standard “.

The podcast is available here