Interpretation, not advice. The "Relevance" commentary in this digest is general professional interpretation provided for information only. It is not formal planning advice and should not be relied upon in relation to any specific site, application, submission or appeal. For advice on a particular scheme,
contact AK Planning directly.
ConsultationsWeek commencing 26 October 2026
Open for Submissions This Week
- › No planning consultation is open for submissions.
- › Recently closed: the Amended Draft Planning Design Standards for Apartments, National Planning Statement 2026 (closed 5.30pm, 12 October 2026; our review of the amended draft); draft Prescribed Monuments Regulations 2026 (closed 8 September); OPR Strategy Statement 2026 to 2031 (closed 6 May).
Relevance: A National Planning Statement issued under section 25 of the 2024 Act carries more weight than the guidelines it replaces. Development plans must be materially consistent with its National Planning Policies and Measures, and within two months of issue every planning authority must report to the Office of the Planning Regulator on whether its plan is. The statement will also apply to any application determined after it issues, whether or not the application was lodged before that date.
Commencement9 October 2026
Commencement of the Rest of the 2024 Act Is Deferred: the 2000 Act Continues, and a New Date Will Be Notified
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage announced on 9 October that the commencement of the remaining parts of the Planning and Development Act 2024 is deferred due to circumstances beyond its control. Commencement will not take place on 13 October as scheduled. A new date will be notified as soon as practicable, and the Department has given an assurance that those affected will have sufficient advance notice to prepare. In the meantime, the relevant provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) continue to operate as normal. The Department describes commencement as a priority for delivery in 2026, and says its officials will continue to work with the planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála so that commencement can follow at the earliest opportunity.
This is the second deferral. Part 4 was first due on 30 September, then on 13 October. In the days before the announcement, local authorities were dealing with a work to rule affecting all services, including planning.
Relevance: Applications, submissions, appeals, declarations and enforcement continue under the 2000 Act and the 2001 Regulations until the commencement order takes effect. On our reading of section 626, an application lodged before that date stays a 2000 Act application through to appeal. The new forms, the section 588 declaration and the other Part 4 procedures do not apply until then.
Regulation30 October 2026
Three More Draft Regulations Under the 2024 Act: Transitional Provisions, Short-Term Letting Retention and Part 6 Screening
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage updated its list of draft regulations under the Planning and Development Act 2024 on gov.ie on 30 October. The list now carries three further instruments: the Planning and Development (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026, the Planning and Development (Retention of Short-Term Letting) Regulations 2026 and the Planning and Development (Part 6) (Screening Classes, Thresholds, Criteria and Examination) Regulations 2026. All three remain in draft, in the form to be signed, and none carries an S.I. number.
The Transitional Provisions Regulations provide that, where a provision of the 2024 Act is to operate by reference to the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, those Regulations continue to have effect as if not revoked, notwithstanding any revocation made by regulations under the 2024 Act. The Retention of Short-Term Letting Regulations apply to a section 95 application made solely to retain a change of use to short-term letting. Such an application carries a supplementary form (Form No. 1) and omits the plans and particulars of works required by Form No. 3 of the Control of Development Regulations. The authority may request further information once, and the request is confined to technical or environmental detail needed for an environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment under Part 6, or on new matters raised in public participation. The Part 6 Screening Regulations prescribe the classes, thresholds and criteria for screening for environmental impact assessment under section 225 of the 2024 Act. They require a competent authority to make a screening determination within 8 weeks, extended in exceptional circumstances by written notice giving reasons and a date. This entry summarises articles 3 to 8; the three schedules are not summarised here.
Relevance: None of the three has effect until it is made and Part 4 of the 2024 Act commences, and the Department has not fixed a commencement date. Until then, applications for retention of short-term letting continue under the 2000 Act. The Transitional Provisions Regulations address the question of which parts of the 2001 Regulations survive revocation, and the full text should be read before any application lodged near the commencement date is programmed. The
circulars tracker records the list.
How this works: This page refreshes automatically every day at noon. Only significant Irish planning and development stories are published; quiet days are skipped rather than padded. Each day's items are drafted as LinkedIn posts for Adam to share. Past digests archive below.
Earlier digests
From the Archive
Data29 October 2026
CSO: 10,154 Homes Completed in Q3, Taking Completions for the First Nine Months of 2026 to 26,833
The CSO's New Dwelling Completions release for the third quarter records 10,154 completions, up 10.4% on the 9,197 completed in Q3 2025. Completions for January to September total 26,833, up 10.6% on the same period of 2025. Apartments account for 3,464 of the quarter's completions (34%) and houses for 6,690 (66%), of which scheme houses are 5,163 and single dwellings 1,527. Dublin accounts for 3,720 completions (37% of the total) and 2,311 of the apartments. The Mid-West region, which includes Limerick, fell 8% on the third quarter of 2025; the CSO records 236 completions in Limerick in the quarter.
Relevance: The second quarter was the first year-on-year fall since 2024, and the third quarter reverses it. The Limerick figure should be read against the county's four-year position reported in the digest of 6 October. The county breakdown is on the practice's
Irish Housing Pipeline.
Policy6 October 2026
Budget 2027: a Derelict Property Tax, a Further Rezoning Window Under the Residential Zoned Land Tax, and Help to Buy Raised to €35,000
The Department of Finance's tax policy changes for Budget 2027 introduce a Derelict Property Tax at 7 per cent of the self-assessed value of a residential or non-residential property. Local authorities will identify the properties and keep the registers, and Revenue will collect the tax. It applies first to the 107 towns with a population of 4,000 or more and extends to the 171 towns of 2,000 or more in its second year; the final registers are to be published, and the Revenue pay and file window opens, on 1 March 2028. The Residential Zoned Land Tax is to be amended to give landowners a further opportunity to request a change in the zoning of their land. The maximum Help to Buy relief rises from €30,000 to €35,000 from 7 October 2026, with the other parameters, including the €500,000 value limit, unchanged. The expenditure side allocates €9.4 billion to housing, including funding for 11,250 new-build social homes, €225 million to the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund and €2.3 billion to Uisce Éireann.
Relevance: The Derelict Property Tax runs off local authority registers, so a property's entry on the register decides liability; owners of vacant buildings in the larger towns should check the registers as they are prepared ahead of March 2028. The new rezoning window under the Residential Zoned Land Tax is a further chance to seek removal of land from the tax map; the dates and procedure have not been published and are expected in the Finance Bill.
Policy6 October 2026
Rent a Room Relief Extended to Garden Homes Built Under the New Class 3A Exemption
Budget 2027 extends Rent a Room Relief to Designated Auxiliary Dwellings that are consistent with the exempted development class for detached homes in a rear garden, inserted by S.I. No. 340 of 2026. The extension applies retrospectively, to garden homes installed after 27 July 2026, the date the exemption came into force. The relief threshold rises from €14,000 to €16,000 from 1 January 2027, and a single €16,000 ceiling applies to all Rent a Room income of the taxpayer.
Relevance: The tax relief follows the planning exemption, so a garden home that falls outside Class 3A, by size (32 to 45 square metres), by a missed 14-day notification to the planning authority, or by a separate utility connection, will not qualify. The planning conditions continue to apply to a let unit: the garden home may not be occupied separately from the main house, may not be sold or subdivided separately and may not be used for short-term letting. How a letting under the relief sits with the occupancy condition has not been tested. The conditions are set out on the practice's
garden home page.
Data6 October 2026
Limerick Housing Delivery: the Completions Figure in the Construction Industry Federation's Warning Relates to the City, Not the County
The Construction Industry Federation said on 6 October that Limerick completed 1,508 homes between 2022 and 2025 against a planned 5,721, an output rate of 26 per cent. CSO New Dwelling Completions record 3,416 homes completed in Limerick City and County over those four calendar years. The 1,508 corresponds to the completions the council records for Limerick City and Suburbs and Annacotty over the three calendar years 2022 to 2024, in Table 5 of its Year Three Core Strategy Monitoring Report. The council's county-wide count is 2,641 homes in the first three years of the plan against 7,794 required, or 34 per cent.
Relevance: Delivery in Limerick is below target on the council's own measure, but completions for the city should not be read against the county target. Limerick Chamber's submission of 2 June on Proposed Variation No. 3 uses the same basis: its 740 completions for 2024 and 493 for 2025 are the CSO figures for the three Limerick City local electoral areas, against 1,001 and 866 for the county. The variation sets a Housing Growth Requirement of 2,599 homes a year to December 2030 under the July 2025 guidelines, and the Mayor's report on its material alterations issued on 9 September. County completions and commencements are tracked on the practice's
Irish Housing Pipeline.
DecisionReported 28 September 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Grants Google's Grange Castle Data Centre Extension on Appeal and Writes Its Renewable Supply Test into a Condition
An Coimisiún Pleanála has granted Google Ireland Limited permission for a 72,400 square metre data storage facility, the third phase of its campus at Grange Castle Business Park South and Profile Park, Baldonnell, Dublin 22. The grant reverses South Dublin County Council's refusal of August 2024, which cited insufficient capacity in the electricity network and the absence of significant on-site renewable generation; Google appealed as first party on 18 September 2024. The order (ABP-320852-24) is dated 10 September 2026, the Commission's case file gives 23 September as the decision date, and the Commission agreed with its inspector. The reasons rely on the existing grid connection and an EirGrid agreement with flexible demand, on a signed corporate power purchase agreement, and on the Large Energy User Action Plan of January 2026 and the CRU's Large Energy Users Connection Policy of December 2025. Condition 5 requires, before operation, evidence of corporate power purchase agreements for new, unsubsidised renewable generation located in Ireland that equals or exceeds the electricity the facility draws from fossil sources; condition 17 requires the 45 standby generators to run on renewable fuel, with a restriction on fossil diesel.
Relevance: Read with the Killala refusal reported on 17 September, the two decisions set out the evidence the Commission expects on a data centre appeal: a grid connection agreement in place rather than applied for, and a signed power purchase agreement rather than an intention to seek one. Condition 5 puts the renewable test in terms a planning authority can enforce: new generation, in Ireland, without public subsidy, and at least equal to the fossil-sourced demand. The permission cannot be transferred separately from the existing DC1 and DC2 campus (condition 3), and any judicial review runs under Chapter 1 of Part 9 of the 2024 Act, by originating motion within eight weeks, which has applied to 2000 Act decisions since 12 August.
Regulation28 September 2026
Draft Regulations Under the 2024 Act Expand to Twenty Instruments, Adding the Commission's Own Rules
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has expanded its list of draft regulations under the Planning and Development Act 2024 on gov.ie, last updated 28 September. The seven sets published in draft on 18 September, covering development management by planning authorities, are now listed alongside thirteen further sets: two setting out procedure for An Coimisiún Pleanála, the Control of Development (An Coimisiún Pleanála) Regulations 2026 and the Appeals, Referrals and Administration Regulations 2026; eight sets under Part 6 governing environmental impact assessment procedure, from the EIA portal to transboundary consultation and appeals against a screening or examination determination; and single instruments for architectural heritage, strategic development zones and urban development zones. All twenty remained in draft, in the form to be signed, and none carries an S.I. number. The Department added a twenty-first, the Planning and Development (Major Accident) Regulations 2026, on 29 September. No exempted development regulations under section 9 have been added to the list.
Relevance: The Control of Development (An Coimisiún Pleanála) Regulations and the Appeals, Referrals and Administration Regulations will set the mechanics of a third-party appeal, an observation and a referral under Part 12, in the way the Control of Development (Planning Authorities) Regulations already set the mechanics of an application and a submission at first instance. Until the finalised text of those two instruments is available, the practice's guide to
making a submission from 13 October covers the planning authority stage; the appeal stage awaits the finalised text of those two instruments.
Commencement9 September 2026
Part 16 Completed and the Outdoor Events Licensing Regulations Are Made
Three further statutory instruments under the Planning and Development Act 2024 have appeared on the Irish Statute Book. S.I. No. 466 of 2026, made 9 September, completes commencement of Part 16, the events licensing regime, together with section 550, and repeals section 31T and Part XVI of the 2000 Act other than section 239. S.I. No. 468 of 2026, made the same day following approval by resolution of both Houses under section 4 of the 2024 Act, sets out the licence application and administration procedure for outdoor events under Part 16. A third order, S.I. No. 467 of 2026, commences Chapter 12 of Part 2 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026 from 9 September.
Relevance: An event promoter now applies to the local authority under section 479 of the 2024 Act, using the form and procedure in S.I. No. 468, rather than under the old regime. The substance of Chapter 12 of Part 2 of the 2026 Amendment Act, commenced by S.I. No. 467, has not been checked against the Act text and will be confirmed in a later digest.
Data17 September 2026
CSO: Planning Permissions Jump 60% in the Second Quarter, the Highest Total Since 2021
The Central Statistics Office's Planning Permissions release for the second quarter of 2026, published on 17 September, records 11,912 dwelling units granted permission, up 60% on the 7,447 units of Q2 2025 and the highest quarterly total since 13,450 in the fourth quarter of 2021. Houses accounted for 6,275 of the units, up 32.9% on the year, and apartments for 5,637, up 106.9%. Dublin's four local authorities granted 3,241 units, up 78.5%, and Cork recorded the second-highest county total, 3,234 units, with apartment approvals there up 302%.
Relevance: The rolling twelve-month commencement total to July stood at 27,847, well below what a sustained run of quarters at this permission level would support, so the increase has not shown up as delivery. Apartment permissions have concentrated in Dublin and Cork while the amended draft National Planning Statement on apartment standards remains in consultation to 12 October, so applications lodged now are assessed against the standards as they stand, not as they may become.
DecisionReported 17 September 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Refuses a 50 MW Mayo Data Centre on Grid Capacity and Climate Policy Grounds
An Coimisiún Pleanála has refused permission for a 50 megawatt, 30,000 square metre data centre proposed by Mayo Data Hub Ltd for the former Asahi site at Killala, County Mayo. The refusal follows a third-party appeal against Mayo County Council's grant of permission in April 2025. The Commission's reasons, reported in national media on 17 September, were that the applicant had not demonstrated a fixed grid connection agreement or sufficient local capacity, had not shown access to on-site or contracted renewable generation, and that the development conflicted with the objectives of the Climate Action Plan 2025.
Relevance: The Commission's reasons set out what it expects an applicant to show: a firm grid connection agreement rather than an unresolved application for one, and either on-site renewable generation or a corporate power purchase agreement rather than a stated intention to pursue one. For any large energy-intensive scheme, grid and climate policy evidence belongs in the application as lodged, not in an answer to further information.
Regulation22 September 2026
The Draft Regulations Under the 2024 Act Are Published: a 1,000 Word Rule for Submissions, a Six Week Floor on Decisions, and Further Information Confined to the Unforeseen
The Department published the finalised drafts of seven sets of regulations under the Planning and Development Act 2024 on 18 September, in the form to be signed by the Minister. They are not yet made and carry no S.I. numbers. The principal instrument is the Planning and Development (Control of Development, Planning Authorities) Regulations 2026, which replaces Part 4 of the 2001 Regulations. Regulation 17 sets the submission period at five weeks from receipt of the application and requires a submission to be in Form No. 5 with the section 588 declaration in Form No. 6. Regulation 18 provides that the authority shall not determine an application until six weeks from receipt have elapsed. Regulation 20 permits a further information request once only, and only on matters of technical or environmental detail not foreseen at lodgement or on new matters raised in public submissions; a second request is confined to clarification, sub-threshold EIA screening or EIA. Regulation 33 provides that a request to extend the duration of a permission is made not earlier than one year before expiry. The Fees Regulations keep the 2001 scale, charge a quarter of the application fee for an alteration request under section 140, and refund that fee where the authority determines the alteration to be non-material.
Relevance: A submission over 1,000 words must open with an executive summary of no more than 300 words, and may contain no hyperlinks, QR codes, embedded images or attachments without the copyright holder's permission; a submission that links to the development plan or appends a consultant's report will need to be rewritten. Form No. 6 is a declaration in a prescribed form, not a statutory declaration: the declarant states the submission is not made to delay development or to secure a payment, signs and dates it, and no witness is required.
Regulation21 September 2026
From Commencement Every Objection, Appeal and Withdrawal Needs a Declaration in a Prescribed Form
Sections 587 and 588 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 commence with Part 4. Neither has an equivalent in the 2000 Act. Section 588 requires a submission or observation under Part 4 or Part 6 to be accompanied by a declaration in a prescribed form stating that it is not made for the purpose of delaying the development or of securing a payment, gift, consideration or other inducement. The same applies to an appeal to the Commission, except one brought by the applicant, to judicial review of a grant, where the declaration goes to the High Court, and to the withdrawal of any of them. Failure to comply, or a declaration known to be false or misleading in a material respect, is an offence carrying a class A fine or 12 months. Section 587 makes it a separate summary offence, with a fine of up to €5,000 or 12 months, to request money or a benefit in consideration of anyone agreeing not to object, not to appeal, not to bring judicial review, or to withdraw any of them.
Relevance: Whether a missing declaration makes an appeal invalid, or exposes the appellant to the offence under section 588 alone, is not settled, since section 360(1) does not mention section 588; the safer course is to file the declaration with the appeal. Section 587 places the withdrawal offence on the person requesting a withdrawal in return for payment, complete when the request is made whether or not anything is paid, while section 587(4) lets an applicant ask the High Court to direct the authority to disregard a tainted submission, on seven days' notice.
Policy21 September 2026
Improperly Lobbying a Councillor About Planning Has Been a Criminal Offence Since December
Section 575 of the 2024 Act commenced on 31 December 2025 under S.I. 633 of 2025 and has had little attention. Section 114 of the 2000 Act made improper communication an offence only in relation to An Bord Pleanála. Section 575(1)(b) reaches any member of a planning authority, and the purpose limb widens from the consideration of an appeal or a decision to the performance of any function under the Act, which takes in a development plan variation, a material contravention vote under section 99 and an enforcement decision. Officers are covered only where prescribed by regulations, and none have been made, so for now the offence bites on councillors and on no council officials. Under section 575(2) a member who forms the opinion that a communication contravenes the section must not entertain it further and must notify the authority in writing forthwith. Separately, section 5(1)(c) of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, inserted with effect from 1 January 2024, makes any communication about the development or zoning of land to a designated public official a registrable lobbying activity, and councillors are designated public officials under section 6(1)(d).
Relevance: Section 5(1)(c) of the 2015 Act sits outside the ten-employee threshold in section 5(2), so a sole practitioner is caught for any communication about the development or zoning of land to a councillor. The own-principal-private-residence exception is confined to the dwelling and garden or grounds up to one acre, so a rural site that is not yet the person's home, or a holding larger than an acre, remains inside the regime. Returns fall three times a year, on 21 May, 21 September and 21 January, and a nil return is required.
PolicyReported 19 September 2026
In Limerick, "Chief Executive" in the New Act Means the Mayor or the Director General, and It Has Been Law Since June 2025
Section 633 of the 2024 Act provides that a reference to a chief executive is, so far as it relates to Limerick City and County Council, a reference to the director general for a "relevant function" and to the Mayor in any other case. The definition sits in section 10A of the Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2024, which the Planning Act itself inserted and which commenced on 18 June 2025. Relevant functions, and therefore the director general's, include Parts 2, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 20, Chapters 2 to 5 and 7 of Part 4, Chapters 1, 2 and 4 of Part 8, Chapters 2 to 4 of Part 12, and around thirty named sections. Everything else falls to the Mayor.
Relevance: Development management sits with the director general, including the chief executive's proposal preceding a material contravention resolution under section 99, the alteration provisions at sections 138 to 150, and the section 277 power to amend a permission. The Mayor signs the politically weighted work, including section 159 on the council's own development and almost all of Part 3 plan-making; Limerick is the only authority in the State where a directly elected office holder signs those reports.
CommencementReported 19 September 2026
Some of What People Expect on 13 October Is Already in Force
A reading of the Department's commencement list against the Act shows a number of provisions in force well before the Part 4 date. Section 396, service of documents, including service by electronic communication, commenced on 2 October 2025. Sections 358, 376, 388, 389, 390, 402 and 403 commenced on 18 June 2025, covering reports to the Commission, information sharing between public bodies, the appointment of consultants, the running of time and the Christmas disregard. The funfair provisions at sections 487 to 491 commenced on 2 October 2025, leaving only event licensing for Block C. The urban development zone sections on identifying suitable sites, sections 596 to 600, commenced on 9 June 2025. And Part 25 on rent pressure zones commenced on 18 October 2024.
Relevance: Section 396(2) has made service by email effective, since 2 October 2025, where it goes to an address the person published, even one never supplied to the authority, provided the sender has no evidence of non-delivery. Every date in Part 25 on rent pressure zones expired on 31 December 2025, and it should not be cited as the current law on rent pressure zones.
Case law8 September 2026
OPR Learning from Litigation, Issue 13: Five Decisions Every Practitioner Should Know
The Office of the Planning Regulator's quarterly case-law bulletin, prepared by Fieldfisher, covers four High Court judgments and one Supreme Court appeal. In South Dublin County Council v Threshford [2026] IEHC 342, Humphreys J. upheld section 160 injunctions where mobile homes had been replaced with block-built houses: total or near-total replacement of a structure is not "maintenance, improvement or other alteration" under section 4(1)(h), staying within the old footprint authorises nothing, the seven-year rule falls away where works are new or intensified, and the burden of proving an exemption sits with the developer. In Keogh v An Coimisiún Pleanála [2026] IEHC 339 a seven-turbine Carlow wind farm survived challenge; the Court approved the inspector's analysis of a development plan that pulled in two directions and confirmed there is no general duty to distinguish earlier refusals. In Abbey Park Residents v An Coimisiún Pleanála [2026] IEHC 365, Holland J. quashed a 104-apartment LRD grant in Baldoyle because a clear, quantified development plan objective on children's play space (4 m² per unit) had been contravened without the Commission identifying the contravention; a material contravention cannot be granted by accident. In Fox v Wicklow County Council [2026] IEHC 412 a ministerial direction removing land from a village boundary stood, the Court holding that reasons may be found in the OPR's recommendation and notice, and that a participant is expected to go and read them. In Pat O'Donnell v Dublin City Council [2026] IESC 36 the Supreme Court reversed the High Court: listing the planning agent rather than the client in a chief executive's report is compliant, and a harmless procedural error will not quash a plan.
Relevance: Threshford confirms the exemptions widened in July are construed strictly and the person relying on one must prove it, the answer to any "we only replaced what was there" retention argument. Abbey Park means a specific, numeric development plan standard is a trap for the Commission as much as the applicant: a shortfall against one must be named and justified as a material contravention rather than glossed.
Policy14 September 2026
Apartment Standards: the Department Publishes All 58 Submissions on the Draft National Planning Statement
The submissions received on the Draft National Planning Statement on Planning Design Standards for Apartments 2026 are now online in full. They run from residents' associations in Marino, Roebuck and Griffith Avenue to the Irish Planning Institute, the RIAI, the Construction Industry Federation, the Land Development Agency, the IDA, the EPA, the National Disability Authority, and the city and county councils of Dublin, Cork, Galway, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Meath, Louth and Tipperary. This will be the first National Planning Statement on apartments issued under section 25 of the 2024 Act, replacing the July 2025 guidelines.
Relevance: A Statement issued under section 25 binds development plans and decisions in a way the 2025 guidelines did not, so the planning authorities' submissions preview how they intend to apply the new standards. The same three parameters, floor areas, dual aspect and ground-floor heights, are the ones the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026 makes alterable without a fresh application for uncommenced apartment permissions.
Data20 August 2026
3,028 Homes Commenced in July; the Rolling Twelve-Month Figure Is 27,847
The Department's July commencement notices show 3,028 new homes started in the month, and 27,847 on a rolling twelve-month basis from August 2025 to July 2026. By local authority the most units commenced were in Fingal (327), Dublin City (276) and Kildare (229). The release also carries the modern methods of construction breakdown that has been collected since May 2025.
Regulation19 August 2026
Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026 Partly Commenced: the New Judicial Review Rules Now Cover 2000 Act Decisions Too
Circular PLR 04/2026 confirms that the Minister has signed S.I. 414 of 2026, bringing specified provisions of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026 (No. 27 of 2026) into operation from 12 August. Among them is section 115, which applies Chapter 1 of Part 9 of the 2024 Act, the judicial review procedure with no leave stage that has applied to 2024 Act decisions since last August, to remaining decisions and acts under the 2000 Act, and sections 142 to 144, which amend and then switch off sections 50 and 50A of the 2000 Act. The Act was signed on 20 July. Its extensive amendments to Part 4 of the 2024 Act, on planning applications, are not yet commenced and will arrive with that Part.
Relevance: A challenge to a 2000 Act permission now surfaces on day one, by originating motion within eight weeks, with no leave stage and notice to the applicant on the day of issue, rather than at a leave hearing weeks later. It ends in the High Court unless the Supreme Court itself grants leave to appeal further.
Data30 July 2026
CSO: 8,823 Homes Completed in Q2, the First Year-On-Year Quarterly Fall Since 2024
The CSO's New Dwelling Completions release for the second quarter records 8,823 completions, down 3.6% on the 9,152 completed in Q2 2025. That follows a first quarter that was up 32.9% year on year, and leaves the rolling 12-month total at 37,835. Our housing data page now carries the Q2 figures in full, including the breakdown for all 31 local authorities.
Policy6 August 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Launches an Online Appeals Service, the First End-To-End Digital Route to Lodge a Planning Appeal
The Commission, in partnership with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, has launched an online service for submitting planning appeals. Until now an appeal had to arrive on paper, post, courier or hand delivery, within the statutory four-week window.
Relevance: The statutory requirements are unchanged: the four-week clock, the fee, the grounds and the documents an appeal must contain are exactly as before, and a submission rejected as invalid is rejected whether it arrived by post or by portal. In the service's early months, an appellant should keep independent proof of what was lodged and when.
Regulation4 August 2026
Garden Dwellings After S.I. 340: No Planning Permission, but Building Control, Fire and Building Regulations Apply in Full
A week into the new exempted development regime, national coverage has turned to what the exemption does not remove. A back-garden dwelling of 32–45 m² under the new Class 3A needs no planning permission, but it remains a dwelling in law: building regulations including Part B fire safety and Part L energy performance apply in full, a commencement notice to the building control authority is required, and the planning authority must be notified at least 14 days before works start as a condition of the exemption itself.
Relevance: A habitable structure bought from a catalogue and placed on a patio slab can comply with the planning exemption and remain an unlawful building, and unlike a planning breach, a building control breach has no seven-year immunity. The notification to the planning authority at least 14 days before work starts is a condition of the exemption itself, and a missed notification means the exemption never attached.
Policy10 August 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Opens Recruitment for Planning Commissioners
The Commission has advertised for planning commissioners, the decision-makers who determine appeals and strategic cases. The recruitment follows a July in which it emerged that the chairperson role had to have its fee raised to attract candidates.
Policy31 July 2026
Dublin Airport Passenger Capacity Act 2026 Signed into Law, an Coimisiún Pleanála Sets Out How the 32-million Cap Will Be Lifted
The Bill that passed the Dáil by 118 votes to 28 in early July has completed its passage and been enacted, and the Commission has published a notice on its operation. The Act empowers the Minister for Transport to amend or revoke the 32-million-passenger annual limit attached as a condition of the 2007 permission for Terminal 2, with an environmental impact assessment to be carried out independently by An Coimisiún Pleanála before any order lifting the cap is made.
Regulation27 July 2026
The Biggest Change to Exempted Development in 25 Years Takes Effect: 45 m² Extensions, 30 m² Garden Rooms, and a Detached Home in the Back Garden Without Permission
Seven sets of Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2026, S.I. 338 to 344 of 2026, signed by Minister of State John Cummins and notified in Iris Oifigiúil on 17 July, came into operation on 27 July. The exempt limit for an extension to the principal dwelling rises from 40 m² to 45 m², and the back-garden structure exemption (shed, store, home office, gym) rises from 25 m² to 30 m². A new Class 3A exempts a detached auxiliary habitable dwelling of between 32 m² and 45 m² in the back garden, linked to the services of the principal house; a new Class 1A permits sub-division of the principal dwelling to create up to one additional self-contained unit within the existing building envelope, each unit at least 32 m². A dormer roof box and/or rooflight on the principal dwelling becomes exempt, as does external wall insulation in line with SEAI grant provision; the heat-pump exemption is no longer confined to the rear, and cycle and bin storage is exempted front and back. The Department describes the regulations as implementing the Planning and Development Act 2024 following a 2025 consultation that drew almost 1,000 submissions.
Relevance: Both new classes, the garden dwelling and the sub-division, require the planning authority to be notified at least 14 days before work starts, a condition of the exemption and not an administrative courtesy, and a homeowner who builds first may find they never had the exemption at all. All Building, Building Control and Fire Regulations apply in full to anything habitable, and the Class 3A exemption is time-limited, currently to 31 December 2030.
Regulation27 July 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Specifies an Address for Service of Judicial Review Proceedings
The Commission has published the address at which judicial review proceedings against it are to be served.
Relevance: Judicial review of a planning decision runs to a short statutory clock, and proceedings served at the wrong address do not stop it running. Anyone contemplating a challenge, or advising on one, should take the current address from the Commission's own notice rather than from a precedent file.
Data20 July 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Publishes Q2 2026 Casework Statistics
The Commission's quarterly casework statistics for the second quarter of 2026 are now published on its statistics pages, covering cases received, disposed of and on hand across appeals, strategic infrastructure and local authority matters.
Regulation10 July 2026
High Court Stands over "Falsified Records" Finding Against an Coimisiún Pleanála, and the Judgment Discloses a ChatGPT-Generated Inspector's Report Was Destroyed
Mr Justice David Holland has declined An Coimisiún Pleanála's request to withdraw the finding, made in his judgment quashing the Aughinish Alumina bauxite-residue extension, that the Commission submitted "falsified" meeting records to the court, instead adding a postscript to the judgment re-emphasising that he alleges no deception. The inaccuracies arose from software that automatically updated attendee names on signed meeting records, a problem the judge called "clearly systemic" and one that "should not have required litigation to unearth". The case, brought by Environmental Trust Ireland, also revealed that an initial inspector's report had been generated using ChatGPT; the Commission judged it unsafe to rely on and had a fresh report prepared by a different inspector, but the original's destruction, it was later recovered, was, in the court's view, "ill-judged" against the Commission's statutory record-keeping obligations.
Relevance: The statutory duty to keep an accurate written record is not administrative housekeeping, it is what makes a consent defensible, and automated systems that touch the decision file need the same supervision as the decisions themselves. The use of generative AI in report-writing has now surfaced in a written Irish judgment, so the governance question is no longer hypothetical for any planning authority or consultancy. The application itself stands remitted to the Commission for fresh consideration, and no view is offered on its merits.
Application9 July 2026
441-home Large-Scale Residential Application Lodged at Kilnap, Blackpool, One of Cork City's Biggest Housing Proposals This Year
Murnane & O'Shea is seeking ten-year permission from Cork City Council for a Large-scale Residential Development of 441 homes at Kilnap, Blackpool, on the city's north side: 185 houses and 256 apartment and duplex units across 21 buildings of up to four storeys, together with a two-storey creche and a commercial unit. Access is proposed from the Old Mallow Road and the Old Whitechurch Road, with public-realm and pedestrian-connectivity upgrades. The application follows 95 social and affordable homes delivered by the same developer at Kilnap; the council is due to decide by 27 August 2026.
Decision9 July 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Upholds Bessborough Apartments in Part, 106 of 140 Units Consented, Contested Block C Omitted
An Coimisiún Pleanála has substantially upheld Cork City Council's February grant of permission to Estuary View Enterprises for a Large-scale Residential Development of 140 apartments at the former Bessborough mother and baby institution in Blackrock, Cork, but has omitted Block C (34 units over three storeys), consenting 106 apartments in total. The site lies within the curtilage of Bessborough House, a Protected Structure, and the application was accompanied by an EIAR and Natura Impact Statement; the decision followed three third-party appeals and a first-party appeal. The 2021 Mother and Baby Homes Commission report recorded 923 child deaths associated with Bessborough, with burial records existing for only 64, and survivors' groups had opposed the scheme on the basis that parts of the wider former 200-acre landholding may contain unrecorded burials.
Relevance: The Commission's power to grant in part and excise a contested element rather than refuse outright is a mechanism worth understanding for anyone running a large-scale residential appeal. On a site carrying this weight of public concern, a grant of permission does not resolve the underlying questions, and the inspector's report and the reasoning for omitting Block C repay careful reading.
Decision8 July 2026
€1bn Westmeath Data Centre Campus Stalled: Ten Appeals Lodged Against Council Grant, an Coimisiún Pleanála to Decide by 27 October
Red Admiral DC Ltd's €1bn six-unit data centre campus and decentralised energy resource on a c. 600-acre site near Rochfortbridge, Co Westmeath has moved into the appeals process, with ten separate third-party appeals lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála against Westmeath County Council's decision in early June to grant ten-year permission subject to 32 conditions. The council had received more than 50 submissions on the application, and appellants' arguments include the burden the development would place on the national electricity grid and the adequacy of its climate and emissions assessment. The Commission is due to determine the appeals by 27 October 2026.
Relevance: Ten separate appeals against a single council grant signal the organised opposition any large energy-hungry project should now expect, and the local authority decision is the halfway point, not the finish line. The Commission is due to determine the appeals by 27 October 2026, and programme should be priced accordingly.
Regulation8 July 2026
An Taisce and FIE Take the Environmental Legal-Cost Caps to the High Court, the Reform Behind the Judicial Review Slowdown Is Now Itself under Challenge
An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment have brought a High Court challenge to the Planning and Development (Costs of Part 9 Judicial Review Proceedings) Regulations 2026, which since May have capped the legal costs recoverable from public bodies by successful environmental litigants on a scale of €40,897 to €65,805. The groups argue the caps, which they say amount to about 30% of the reasonable costs currently paid, make environmental litigation "prohibitively expensive" in breach of the Aarhus Convention, EU law and the Constitution. The regulations were opposed in 98% of public-consultation submissions, including by the Bar of Ireland and the Law Society. The case is listed before the High Court for directions in October.
Relevance: The environmental legal-cost caps introduced in May, credited days earlier with the fall in judicial reviews against An Coimisiún Pleanála, now themselves face review on the same "not prohibitively expensive" standard that has forced Irish costs rules to be rewritten before. With directions listed for October, anyone pricing programme risk on a calmer litigation environment should treat that assumption as provisional until the case is determined.
Policy8 July 2026
State Buys the Carlton Site: TII Acquires Hammerson's Stalled Dublin Central Scheme to Clear the Way for MetroLink's O'Connell Street Station
Transport Infrastructure Ireland has acquired Hammerson's central Dublin holdings, including the 5.5-acre "Dublin Central" (former Carlton) site running from O'Connell Street to Moore Street, in a sale Hammerson values at £69m (€80.7m). Hammerson's consented €500m mixed-use scheme, permitted by Dublin City Council in 2022 and upheld on appeal, has been stalled for almost two years by High Court proceedings brought by the Moore Street Preservation Trust; the MetroLink permission granted last September includes an underground station beneath the former Carlton cinema, which was to have been built by agreement with Hammerson. TII says it will work with the Dublin Task Force and the Land Development Agency on redeveloping the wider site, and the Minister for Transport is due to bring updated MetroLink costings to Cabinet this month ahead of tendering.
Decision7 July 2026
An Coimisiún Pleanála Delays Shannon–Dublin Water Supply Decision by Up to a Year, the State's Largest-Ever Water Project
An Coimisiún Pleanála has written to all parties to say it now intends to determine Uisce Éireann's Strategic Infrastructure Development application for the Water Supply Project for the Eastern and Midlands Region "before July 2nd 2027", up to a year beyond the 2 July date on which a decision had been due, citing "the need for further consideration of the case". The €4.6–5.9bn project, lodged last December and attracting 114 submissions, would abstract over 300 million litres a day from the Shannon at Parteen Basin and pipe it 170km to Dublin. Uisce Éireann says it is working with Government to hold the 2032 date for the new source entering supply.
Relevance: Against a statutory objective of eighteen weeks for strategic infrastructure cases, a slip of up to twelve months on the consenting critical path of the State's largest water project shows that for complex SID applications the statutory timeline and the real one are different things, and programme risk sits with the applicant. Any scheme that depends on this water supply should have its delivery assumptions stress-tested now.
Policy7 July 2026
Cabinet Asked to Approve "Risk Appetite Statement", Officials to Buy Land Before Consent and Carry Litigation Risk on Critical Infrastructure
Public expenditure and infrastructure minister Jack Chambers brings a new "risk appetite statement" for critical infrastructure to Cabinet today. It would empower public servants to purchase land for the State before a project has final approval and to accept litigation risk where strong governance is in place, on the express understanding that some investments may not proceed or may not deliver all intended benefits. Mr Chambers will tell ministers a "culture of risk aversion", driven by legal challenges, planning and consenting complexity, reputational risk and cost escalation, is slowing delivery of water, transport and energy projects.
Data7 July 2026
MyHome Q2: Buyers Paying 7–8% over Asking, Turnover at once-every-50-years, and Rental Terminations at a Record
The MyHome / Bank of Ireland Q2 2026 report puts asking-price inflation at 5%, with transactions in May and June settling 7–8% above the original asking price even as listings rose 20% year-on-year to 14,200. 2% of the State's 2.2 million homes changed hands in the first four months of the year, most of them new builds, implying the average home now trades once every 50 years. RTB figures show a record 7,062 notices of termination served in Q1 2026, up 50% year-on-year, with around 60% of exiting landlords intending to sell; MyHome expects roughly 40,000 completions in 2026.
Decision6 July 2026
Supreme Court Restores Dublin Rezoning Quashed over a Name in a Report, Plan Decisions Should not Fall on "Purely Technical Grounds"
A five-judge Supreme Court has unanimously allowed Dublin City Council's appeal and restored the rezoning of the 1.82-hectare former Uniphar site off the Chapelizod Bypass, largely unused since 2017, from "enterprise/employment" to "inner city sustainable mixed uses" under the 2022–28 Development Plan. The High Court had quashed the rezoning in November 2024 because a report prepared before the decision listed the name of an objector's agent rather than the objector itself. The Supreme Court accepted there was no evidence the listing had any effect on the plan-making process, treating it as a harmless error; Mr Justice Gerard Hogan observed that administrative decisions should not be invalidated on purely technical grounds.
Relevance: What matters in a plan-making challenge is whether an error could have affected the outcome, rather than whether one occurred at all, a significant recalibration of how procedural error is treated. The plan-making record should be kept clean, but a slip that demonstrably changed nothing need not sink a rezoning, and with it, years of housing delivery on a site.
Regulation6 July 2026
Several Candidates Turned Down the Chair of an Coimisiún Pleanála Before the Fee Was Raised to €50,000
Records reported on Friday show the State struggled to fill the chair of An Coimisiún Pleanála's governing board: several candidates declined the role because the standing fee of €20,520, combined with the requirement for exclusive commitment and tight conflict-of-interest rules, made it unattractive. The Department of Housing argued the existing rate would not attract a suitable candidate and sought €50,000; the Department of Public Expenditure sanctioned €40,000, with ministerial discretion to go to €50,000. Former HSE chief Paul Reid was appointed at the €50,000 rate in June 2025.
Regulation5 July 2026
Judicial Reviews Against an Coimisiún Pleanála Fall Sharply, but It Took 19 Months to Commence the Fee Caps Meant to Cause It
An Coimisiún Pleanála figures show 51 new judicial review actions were initiated against the Commission in the first six months of 2026, down from 147 in all of 2024 and 143 in 2025, with the Commission itself noting the slowdown was already under way in the second half of 2025 (58 new actions) before this year's caps on recoverable legal costs in Aarhus Convention environmental litigation took effect. The Commission and its predecessor, An Bord Pleanála, have faced 719 judicial reviews since the start of 2020. The fee-cap provision was signed into law in the Planning and Development Act on 17 October 2024 but was not commenced until roughly 19 months later.
Relevance: A calmer judicial review environment means less litigation risk and more certainty on programme for a large-scale residential or strategic infrastructure application, feeding directly into viability. The gap between the fee-cap provision being signed on 17 October 2024 and its commencement roughly nineteen months later is the sharper lesson: the practical course is to track commencement dates rather than announcements when planning a scheme's critical path.
Data4 July 2026
BPFI: Q1 Completions Hit Best-Ever Start to a Year, but the Planning Pipeline Is Tightening
BPFI's Housing Market Monitor records over 7,800 home completions in Q1 2026, up 32.9% year-on-year and the strongest first quarter since the series began in 2011, with scheme houses driving most of the increase; BPFI expects around 40,000 completions for the year. Set against that, units granted planning permission in Q1 2026 fell 1% year-on-year to a little over 8,000, and BPFI's chief economist points to construction capacity and the planning pipeline as the key risks to reaching the roughly 50,000 units a year the market needs.
Regulation3 July 2026
Dáil Passes Bill Giving Minister Power to Lift the Dublin Airport Passenger Cap, a 2007 Planning Condition Rewritten by Legislation
The Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 passed all stages in the Dáil by 118 votes to 28 and now moves to the Seanad. It empowers the Minister for Transport to amend or revoke the 32-million-passenger annual limit that has stood as a condition of the 2007 planning permission for Terminal 2. Before any order lifting the cap is made, the Bill requires an environmental impact assessment to be carried out independently by An Coimisiún Pleanála.
