A report on legislation aimed at settling payment disputes in the construction sector shows that there were 54 applications made for the appointment of adjudicators in the year to 25 July 2020.

The chairperson of the Construction Contracts Adjudication Panel, Dr Nael Bunni, appointed 46 adjudicators on foot of these applications, under the Construction Contracts Act 2013.

This figure includes seven reappointments in cases where the first adjudicator resigned.

Of the 36 disputes detailed by adjudicators, 26 involved a referral by a sub-contractor over a dispute with a contractor. Most of the cases involved disputes over final or interim payments.

Most decisions within 42 days

Six of the disputes concerned sums totalling between €1 million and €5 million. Ten related to sums of between €100,000 and €500,000, while another ten were in the €10,001 to €30,000 range.

Adjudicators issued rulings in 25 cases, with 14 decided in favour of the party that referred the dispute. The responding party was successful in six cases, and there was a split decision between the parties in five disputes.

A decision was issued in most cases within 42 days of the date of the referral of the dispute to the adjudicator. There were two cases in which the decision was issued after a longer period, with the agreement of the parties.

Reporting not obligatory

In just over half of the cases, the adjudicator charged an hourly fee of between €250 and €300. A code of practice requires that the fees charged by an adjudicator should be “reasonable”, taking into account the amount in dispute, the complexity of the case, and the time spent on the dispute.

Dr Bunni pointed out, however, that the legislation does not include an obligatory reporting provision for adjudications. As a result, the data provided in the report may not cover all cases referred under the act.

Dr Bunni was succeeded as chairperson earlier this year by solicitor Bernard Gogarty.