The Conversation Nobody Made Room For
Most workplace disputes that end at a hearing were, months earlier, a fixable conversation. Confidential workplace mediation by a solicitor holding the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation — on site, at a neutral venue, or fully online.
45+
Years, Established 1981
Diploma
in Mediation, Law Society
On Site
& Fully Online
Neutral
Appointed by Both Sides
First Question: Does This Need Mediating, or Investigating?
They do opposite jobs. An investigation looks backwards and makes findings. A mediation looks forwards and makes none. Get that choice wrong and an employer either mediates something that required a determination — exposing itself and failing the complainant — or launches a formal process over a working relationship that a single facilitated conversation would have repaired, at enormous cost to everyone in it. This practice runs an employment litigation caseload as well as mediating, which is precisely why the honest answer comes at the first call.
Work Through the Sorting Questions →Where Workplace Mediation Earns Its Place
Twelve areas, each written as a proper guide rather than a brochure page — because the people searching these questions usually have a decision to make this week.
Workplace Mediation in Ireland
What it is, how it differs from an investigation, where it fits alongside grievance procedures - and where it does not fit at all.
Bullying & Dignity at Work
The Code of Practice puts informal resolution first. What that means in practice - and the complaints that must be investigated instead.
Manager & Employee Breakdown
The reporting line that stopped working. The single most common workplace mediation, and the most fixable.
Team & Interdepartmental Conflict
Two people, a team, or two functions that have stopped cooperating - and everyone else working around it.
Grievance & Disciplinary Alternatives
Where mediation sits alongside SI 146/2000 procedures: what it can replace, what it can pause, and what it must never displace.
Mediation Before the WRC
Most claims were a fixable conversation months earlier. What is still available once a complaint is lodged.
Return to Work & Reintegration
After long absence, after suspension, after an investigation - the conversation that decides whether the return actually holds.
Senior Executive & Board Conflict
Where a formal process would be publicly destabilising and the people involved are too senior to be managed out quietly.
Professional Practices
Partners, principals and practice staff - conflict inside firms where clients notice and the profession talks.
Public Sector & Semi-State
Dignity at Work policies, established procedures and long service - where mediation fits a heavily proceduralised environment.
When Mediation Is Not Appropriate
The page most mediation sites leave out: what must be investigated, what must be reported, and what needs a different process entirely.
How a Workplace Mediation Works
From the first call to the written agreement - who attends, what is recorded, what reaches a personnel file, and what happens at the review point.
Confidential. Voluntary. And Not an Admission by Anyone.
Three fears stop workplace mediations happening, and all three are answerable. “It will end up on my file.” Communications in mediation are protected by the Mediation Act 2017, and the terms agreed at the outset state what may be recorded and what may not — ordinarily the agreed way forward is documented and nothing else is. “Agreeing to it looks like backing down.” Attending is not a withdrawal of a grievance, not an admission, and not a waiver of any right. “They will just talk me out of my complaint.” Nobody can be required to agree to anything: the only commitment is a written agreement you chose to sign, having been encouraged to take your own advice first.
How It Actually Works
First contact. Usually HR, a manager, an employee or their adviser, describing the situation in ten lines and naming everyone involved — the conflicts check runs before anything else. That first conversation includes the sorting question: mediation, or a process that makes findings? Both sides agree. The mediator is proposed to everyone and accepted by everyone, and the agreement to mediate is signed: neutrality, confidentiality and its limits, what may be recorded, who attends, and the right of every participant to take their own advice. Private meetings first. Each person is met separately before any joint session — often more than once — because people say different things when nobody is watching, and because a joint meeting arranged too early can set things back months. The joint session, if it helps. Some workplace mediations never have one, and that is a legitimate design rather than a failure. The agreement. Short, concrete and forward-looking: communication, reporting, specific behaviours, what is put behind both parties, and a review point. The review. Weeks or months later, because the test is not the handshake — it is whether the arrangement held.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981) and holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation. The firm also runs a substantial employment practice, which is why the honest sorting question — whether a situation needs a mediation or an investigation — gets answered at the first call rather than halfway through. Workplace mediations are conducted on site, at neutral venues, at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the Kilkenny office — or fully online. The mediator is appointed by both sides and acts for neither. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn