Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice, hit out at family law solicitors and barristers for failing to inform their clients about the possibility of mediating disputes rather than going to court.

Specking at the launch of the pilot family law mediation scheme in Dolphin House, Shatter noted concern at the Courts Service figures from 2007 that showed that, of 26,000 applications to the family courts, only 3 per cent of couples used mediation.