Most Disputes Don’t Need a Courtroom. They Need a Room.
Confidential commercial and OMC mediation, conducted by a solicitor holding the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation. In person on Ormond Quay, at a neutral venue, or fully online — with fees agreed in writing with all parties before anything begins.
45+
Years, Established 1981
Diploma
in Mediation, Law Society
In Person
& Fully Online
Fees Agreed
Before We Begin
An OMC at War With Itself Loses Either Way. There’s a Better Room.
Service-charge standoffs, sinking-fund rows, directors against members, agents in the middle, developers who have not finished handing over — owners’ management company disputes are the most naturally mediable commercial disputes in Ireland and the most destructive when litigated, because the money that funds the fight is the same money that should be maintaining the building. And every party still has to live there afterwards.
OMC & Apartment Scheme Mediation →Where Mediation Earns Its Place
Twelve areas, each written as a proper guide rather than a brochure page — because the people searching these questions are usually deciding something expensive this month.
Commercial Mediation in Ireland
What it is, what the Mediation Act 2017 changed - and the honest account of when mediation is the wrong room.
OMC & Apartment Scheme Disputes
Service charges, sinking funds, directors and members, agents, developer handover - the disputes that cost buildings most when litigated.
The Mediation Act 2017
Section 14, confidentiality, enforceability and costs consequences - the statute decoded for the people in the room.
Shareholder & Partnership Disputes
Deadlock, exits and the company that cannot afford its own civil war - resolved where the market never hears it.
Construction Disputes
Retention, defects, delay and variations - mediated mid-project, while the relationships still have to work.
Commercial Contract Disputes
Supply, services, agency and long-term contracts: the relationship worth saving, or the exit worth doing well.
Workplace & Employment Mediation
Reporting-line breakdowns, team conflict and professional-practice disputes - before the WRC, and before the exit.
Farm & Family Business Succession
The dispute nobody should litigate: the asset that cannot be divided by judgment, and the family that has to keep meeting.
Inheritance & Probate Disputes
Wills, executors and estates consumed by costs - settled privately, with the agreement made enforceable.
Commercial Landlord & Tenant
Arrears and arrangements, repairs and dilapidations, breaks and renewals - the relationship that must survive the row.
How a Mediation Day Works
Before, during and after - hour by hour, including what happens if there is no deal at the end of it.
Appointing a Mediator
The two roles, the conflicts check, the agreement to mediate, fees agreed in advance - and mediation clauses drafted upstream.
Confidential by Statute. Voluntary but Not Free to Refuse. Binding Only When You Sign.
Those three sentences are the whole of mediation law as it affects you. What is said in the room is protected by the Mediation Act 2017 and generally cannot be used against you afterwards. Nobody can compel you to settle — but courts can invite parties to mediate and can take an unreasonable refusal into account on costs, so declining has a price. And the moment of commitment is entirely visible: the signature at the end of the day, on an agreement that is then enforceable as a contract. Everything before that signature is exploration.
How It Actually Works
First contact. A phone call or email describing the dispute in ten lines and naming every party — the conflicts check runs before anything else, because a mediator who has ever acted for one side is no use to anyone. Agreement to mediate. All parties sign the terms on which the mediation runs: confidentiality, the mediator’s role, and the fees, agreed in writing with everyone before commencement. Preparation. Short position papers, the documents that matter, and one question answered privately by each side: what would a good outcome actually look like? The day. An opening session, private meetings with each party, movement tested confidentially, and where agreement comes, the settlement drafted and signed in the room — which is where a solicitor-mediator earns their place. Afterwards. A signed agreement enforceable as a contract; or, if there is no deal, nothing said that day can be used against you, and every right you walked in with is intact.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation and a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Mediations are conducted at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the firm’s Kilkenny office, at neutral venues, at the parties’ own premises — or fully online. Fees are agreed in writing with all parties before any mediation begins. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn