Nobody in Ireland can be compelled to settle a dispute, and nobody can be compelled to negotiate in good faith — mediation is voluntary by definition, and a process that forced participation would stop being mediation. What changed is the price of refusing.
What a Court Can Actually Do
Under the Mediation Act 2017, a court may invite the parties to consider mediation — on its own initiative or on the application of a party — and may adjourn the proceedings to allow that to happen. It cannot order you to settle, cannot dictate what position you take, and cannot penalise you for attending and disagreeing. But it can, when the case is over, take conduct into account in deciding costs: where a party has unreasonably refused or failed to consider mediation, that can be weighed in the exercise of the court’s discretion. Since costs in contested proceedings are frequently the largest number in the whole dispute, that is not a theoretical exposure. The design is deliberate: preserve the voluntariness that makes mediation work, while removing the incentive to refuse reflexively.
How to Refuse Properly — and When It Is Right To
There are genuinely good reasons to decline, and stating them matters. “We considered it and declined, for these reasons” reads entirely differently to a court than silence or a one-line dismissal. Reasons that carry weight: a limitation period or statutory deadline requiring immediate issue; genuine urgency needing coercive relief, where an injunction is the only meaningful remedy; a real need for a binding precedent or a public determination, which mediation cannot produce; a party with no authority to settle; a previous mediation attempt that failed on the same issues; or well-founded concerns about bad faith — a party seeking information or delay rather than resolution. Reasons that carry rather less: confidence in your own case (which is exactly what mediation tests), the belief that proposing or accepting mediation signals weakness (section 14 obliges every solicitor to raise it anyway), and the wish to make the other side suffer the process. The practical advice is simple: make the refusal a considered decision, take advice on it, and record the reasons at the time rather than reconstructing them later when costs are being argued.
The timing point that catches people: a refusal in month two and a refusal in month twenty read very differently, and so do their costs consequences. If mediation is going to be declined, decline it early, in writing, with reasons — and revisit the decision if circumstances change, because engaging later is always available and looks entirely reasonable.
Weighing an invitation to mediate? 01 5827148 — including the honest answer that yours may belong in court.
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
General information, not legal advice. The content of this website is general information about mediation and Irish law. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every dispute turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.
The mediator is not your legal adviser. Where Mary Molloy Solicitors is appointed as mediator, the mediator is neutral: the mediator acts for no party, advises no party, and does not decide the dispute. All parties are encouraged to take independent legal advice, and in particular to take advice before signing any mediation settlement. The firm does not act as mediator in any dispute in which it acts, or has acted, for a party — conflicts are checked before any appointment is accepted. Where the firm is instructed as solicitor for one party in a mediation, it acts for that party alone and does not act as mediator in that dispute.
Fees. Fees for mediation are agreed in writing with all parties before the mediation begins, and fees for legal services are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where a dispute or its resolution has tax consequences — succession, business transfers, property, compensation payments — those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and are best addressed before any settlement is signed.