Troubled businesses urged to access new mediation service

Hard pressed business owners from Cavan and throughout Ireland will be seeking the help of a new debt mediation service that has just been launched in Belturbet. The new venture, Debt Management Mediation Ltd, was launched on Monday in Crannagh House, and in Dublin last week at an Irish Banking Federation seminar. Director and mediator Michelle Lynch says of calls from all over the region and Ireland are flooding into the Belturbet Centre. Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan said it was an innovative service being introduced by an Irish company. 'I"m sure it can play an important role in mediating between lenders and borrowers who are facing difficulties in the present economic environment,' said the minister. The company, a joint venture of two firms - Crannagh & Co. from Belturbet and Erwin Mediation Services, have devised a tailor-made debt management mediation model which will replicate in Ireland the success of financial mediation programmes in Belgium, France and Malaysia. Although developed by two commercial entities, Debt Management Mediation provides an altruistic approach to the unprecedented problem of debt faced by Irish businesses, individuals and communities nationwide. The facility is open to the lender or the borrower to call the service, to initiate the mediation process. The mediators are Karen Erwin, Michelle Lynch, Carol Lynch and Jonathan Fitzgerald. Karen Erwin says you can have a small medium enterprise who have been working with their bank for the past 20 years and never fell foul of the bank before. 'Now through no fault of their own they are finding that their business is beginning to melt away; they are having these difficulties and they just don"t know how to deal with it. They are people who genuinely need to renegotiate and reschedule their debt,' she states. Carol Lynch says that part of the process is to help people who can help themselves to get back up and trade out of their difficulties. 'That is good for both the banker and the lender,' she advises. Jonathan Fitzgerald says that Debt Mediation Management has the inherent flexibility to resolve debt issues in a safe space between two parties whose relationship has entered dysfunction. Debt Management Mediation is an independent third-party who, using a structured national programme, will bring together the borrower and the lender in a neutral, non-confrontational environment and then facilitate the mediation of a solution between the borrower and lender. From the first contact from either borrower or lender, to the final signing of a mediated agreement, every case will be managed by a professional, experienced Mediator each of whom will hold a current practising certificate from The Mediators" Institute of Ireland and will have successfully completed DMM"s own financial training module. As DMM is aiming to throw a lifeline to borrowers, the borrower will be only expected to provide a contribution of €350. The cost to the lenders will be in the region of €2,500. In an era when the judiciary has embraced the concept of mediation in the commercial courts, this type of initiative is widely welcomed. By avoiding the need to go to court, parties to the mediation avoid the accompanying costs in both time and money, retain their confidentiality and privacy, and are enabled to come to flexible, tailor-made solutions. The DMM Management team consists of Karen Irwin, a Solicitor with over 15 years of experience as a commercial litigation partner with A&L Goodbody. She is also an internationally recognized Commercial Mediator. As the founder of Erwin Mediation Services, she is one of Ireland"s most experienced mediators. Michelle Lynch is a Barrister-at-Law, a qualified mediator with ADR UK, a former Senior VP of the World Trade Centre, New York and a former Director of Trade Programmes with the Port Authority New York/New Jersey. Carol Lynch is the Managing Director of Crannagh & Co. and Mediator and holds an honours degree from Trinity College, as well as a Masters degree from Cambridge University. Jonathan Fitzgerald is a Chartered Accountant, Attorney-at-Law (NY), Barrister-at-Law and Accredited Mediator. Contact DMM on 049-9529005 or info@debtmanagementmediation.com; www.debtmanagementmediation.com