Conciliation & Mediation

Conciliation or mediation offers parties the opportunity to amicably resolve their disputes. In conciliation or mediation the parties voluntarily engage an independent third party who hears the arguments of both sides and facilitates a solution. Conciliation’s inclusion in the standard forms of construction contract, as a precondition to arbitration, has made conciliation extremely common in the Republic of Ireland.

The aim of conciliation or mediation is for the parties to reach an agreed settlement which will allow important commercial relations to be maintained. While these processes are not binding on any party, proper advice is essential for the best results. Quigg Golden can provide this.

Quigg Golden as mediators have to act fairly, keep confidences and work hard to keep the parties moving forward towards what should be a mutually beneficial agreement at the end.

Mediators are not judges, but simply facilitators and so are trained and practiced at being enthusiastic but emotionally detached. Sometimes this is extremely helpful, because it assists the parties to be pointed the right way and, particularly where one party’s position is unreasonable, it can help that party overcome its prejudice and so unlock an agreement.

Mutual respect, hard work, especially in preparation, so that parties come prepared for the mediation, and good communication between the parties and the mediator are all key.  This does not come easily and my extensive experience as a representative in mediation underlines how hard it can be to achieve it.

Quigg Golden is at the cutting edge of best practice for representing parties in construction and contract mediations, which reflects our high success rate in this sector.

Standing Conciliators

A Standing Conciliator must be appointed to all Public Works Contracts in Ireland with a value in excess of €10 million carried out under PW-CF1 to PW-CF4 inclusive since 04 April 2016. If the value of the contract is between €5 and €10 million then the appointment of a Standing Conciliator is optional. The Standing Conciliator may attend to assist the Project Board in resolving issues informally and thereby help avoid disputes. If an issue does crystallise into a dispute they will act as the Conciliator for that dispute under the dispute resolution clauses of the particular contract. The Standing Conciliator will receive a complete set of contract documents on appointment, attend site meetings regularly, and receive relevant project correspondence. A reserved sum will be included in the pricing document to cover the Contractor’s share (nominally 50%) of the Standing Conciliator’s fee.

James Golden, Edward Quigg and Dermot Durack are available to take appointments as Standing Conciliators under the Public Works Contract in Ireland.