At the National Ploughing Championships this year, the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan officially launched the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland’s new information leaflet on mediation and its potential role in helping to resolve family farm disputes.

The President of the MII, Sabine Walsh said, “The MII has been developing mediation in agriculture as a specialist sector over the past couple of years. We now have a designated Farming and Agribusiness section of trained accredited Mediators with expert knowledge and extensive experience of the farming and agribusiness sector.”

Family disputes on farms traditionally go to Court which is costly and invasive, as Pat Finn, MII’s Agriculture Sector Liaison Officer explained. The legal process often leads to fractured personal relationships or loss of business relationships. Finn said, “Mediation offers a far better alternative to dispute resolution particularly for family farm disputes, whether they be within family or business disputes.”

We at Lensmen like to think of ourselves as peaceful people. We support the MII’s plan for better conflict resolution. Hopefully our PR photos for the event can help spread the message!