About the Practice

Mary Molloy Solicitors has practised from Dublin since 1981 — over 45 years of land, property, litigation and estates work — and planning law sits naturally at the centre of it: planning is where land value, neighbour relations and public law collide, and the practice’s Ormond Quay office stands a short walk from the Four Courts, where the planning lists are heard. This site exists for the recurring planning moments: the site notice that goes up next door, the decision that lands, the warning letter, the refused rural house, the permission worth defending in court.

Richard O’Shea, Solicitor

Richard leads the planning work with a formation that fits it: the Law Society of Ireland’s Diploma in Mediation — because planning disputes are so often neighbour disputes, and the solicitor who can resolve one over a table serves clients better than the one who can only escalate; and the TEP designation (Trust and Estate Practitioner) — relevant more often than expected, because land, succession and development questions travel together in Ireland. The firm’s wider practice — property, litigation, farms and estates — means planning advice here is grounded in what land is actually for: the objection valued against the property it protects, the permission valued against the project it enables.

How the Work Runs Here

Four habits, consistently applied. The dates first: every planning file opens with the windows — which apply, how much remains — because in this field the calendar outranks the merits. Both chairs, one side per matter: objectors and residents’ groups on some files, developers and landowners on others, conflicts checked at first contact — and each chair’s work sharpening the other’s, since the objection-drafter knows where applications are weak and the permission-defender knows what objectors attack. The recommendation given, not hedged: worth objecting, worth appealing, worth challenging — or not — said plainly, because planning processes consume time and money and some fights shouldn’t be had. Remote as a feature: planning is a documents-and-dates practice, the whole exchange runs by email and phone where preferred, and the Dublin and Kilkenny offices are open whenever a desk serves better.