Professor Nael Bunni:

I thank Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, as Chairman, and the members of the committee for inviting me to appear before them today. I am both honoured and very pleased to have been asked by the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Gerald Nash, who has responsibility for business and employment, to chair the panel of adjudicators pursuant to the Construction Contracts Act 2013. It is very significant legislation which will, I believe, bring about a number of important reforms and transform the dispute resolution landscape in the construction sector.

I understand that on such occasions as this it is customary to give some personal background information. I was born in Iraq. Following my initial studies at Baghdad University, I graduated with first class honours and was awarded a scholarship to study for an MSc and PhD in England. I completed my MSc at Manchester University in 1962 and my PhD in London in 1964. It was a requirement of my scholarship that I return to work for the government for four years. When I returned to Iraq in 1964 I was appointed as a lecturer at Baghdad College of Technology. Alongside my work at the university, I was selected by Iraq Reinsurance Company, which was reinsured by the Munich Reinsurance Company, to manage and develop a new construction insurance pool. It was then that I was introduced to conditions of contract, insurance and construction disputes.

I left Iraq and came to Dublin in September 1969, following which I applied for and was granted Irish citizenship. In 1969, I joined T. J. O’Connor and Associates, consulting engineers in Dublin, during which time I also acted as special adviser to the Munich Reinsurance company, dealing with major construction claims in the Arab world, through which I was appointed to my first arbitration in 1972, which related to the collapse of a dam in Libya.

Later in the 1970s, I was asked by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland, ACEI, to help draft the third edition of the Irish conditions of contract and, in particular, to use my knowledge in relation to insurance and contracts, which I did. Having incorporated many new ideas into these general conditions, I was commissioned by the ACEI to write a book explaining what I did and why, which was published in 1984. In 1986, I extended that publication to construction insurance for international contracts, which is now in its second edition, last published in 2003. I have a copy of these books with me if anybody wishes to look at them. They are too expensive to buy but are available in Trinity College library.

In 1979, I passed the fellowship examination of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, CIArb, and was later part of the founding committee for its Irish branch. In 1986, I was elected chairman of that branch. In 1987, I was elected president of the ACEI and having chaired a number of committees for the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, FIDIC, I was requested to help in drafting its international conditions of contract. The 1987 FIDIC conditions of contract for civil engineering work introduced, for the first time, alternative dispute resolution to the construction industry. My work on those conditions resulted in the publication of my book on the FIDIC form in 1992, a copy of which is available if members wish to browse through it.

Alternative dispute resolution methods started then. The book explains the principles of the conditions of FIDIC and practical aspects of their application. The book is now in its third edition. As alternative dispute resolution methods became a necessary part of virtually all conditions of contract, Engineers Ireland asked me to head a committee to draft a form of a conciliation procedure for the industry in Ireland, which was produced in 1995, following which I was asked to chair the dispute resolution panel of Engineers Ireland between then and 2009. That committee trained conciliators and lay dispute adjudication boards. A one year diploma course was then devised by Trinity College, Dublin and I was asked to become a visiting professor. The course has since developed to include various forms of dispute resolution methods, including adjudication.

I left T.J. O’Connor and Associates in 1994 to form Bunni & Associates Limited, in order to concentrate on dispute resolution and dispute avoidance, a subject I refer to as "disputology”. In 1999, I was elected Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, and in March 2000 I was elected a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, which is a gathering of 45 members of the foremost leaders worldwide in the field of dispute resolution. In 2000, I was elected president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, CIArb, worldwide, and in 2005, I was appointed chairman of the executive committee of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre in the United Arab Emirates, a position I retained until 2012.

In summary, I have acted as arbitrator in more than 150 arbitrations, both domestically and internationally, as conciliator, mediator, member of dispute board or adjudication board involving parties from more than 50 jurisdictions.

I have received a number of awards for my work in innovation and structural design and in 1995 and again in 2004, I was awarded the premier institution prize by Engineers Ireland for a "contribution of outstanding merit ... to the benefit of the members [of the institution]."

I greatly relish the prospect of bringing my experience to bear on the new construction contracts adjudication service to the benefit of the industry in Ireland. Senator Feargal Quinn introduced this insightful legislation some years ago. It strives, inter alia, to provide a quick, fair and low cost remedy to disputants and follows the example set in certain other jurisdictions around the world. My commitment to the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, this committee and the construction industry stakeholders is that, in so far as my responsibilities and authority envisaged under this legislation permit, I will endeavour to ensure that a robust, responsive, high-quality and fit-for-purpose adjudication service will be delivered for Ireland, standing the test of time and in the interests of the parties in dispute. I thank members for their attention.