Guides & Insights
Irish planning law in plain English — twenty honest guides.
My Neighbour Just Applied for Planning Permission
The site notice went up: the first week, the file, the five-week clock - and what preserves your rights.
Objections & AppealsHow to Object to a Planning Application - Properly
The mechanics, the fee, the register - and the difference between a submission and a grievance.
Objections & AppealsGrounds That Actually Work in Planning Objections
The currency the system counts - and the grounds that quietly sink the submissions they appear in.
Objections & AppealsAppealing to An Coimisiún Pleanála: the Four-Week Window
A completely fresh decision, four unforgiving weeks - the appeal done properly, both directions.
Objections & AppealsThird-Party Appeals: What Objectors Can and Can’t Do
The ticket, the standing, the edges - and the neighbour who never made a submission.
Enforcement & RetentionI’ve Received a Planning Warning Letter
The most shapeable moment in enforcement - and the response that shapes it your way.
Enforcement & RetentionThe Seven-Year Rule: What It Actually Protects
A shield with holes: what the time bar covers, what it never did - and where it bites at sale.
Enforcement & RetentionRetention Permission: the Honest Guide
The second chance with success conditions - and the Section 5 alternative to check first.
Enforcement & RetentionUnauthorised Development & Selling Your Property
Where old works surface: the requisitions, the price chip, the collapsed contract - and the cures.
Enforcement & RetentionSection 160 Injunctions: the Nuclear Option
The court route any person can take - facing one, and bringing one when the council is slow.
Judicial ReviewThe Eight-Week Window: Planning Judicial Review
Lawfulness, not merits: the strictest clock in Irish public law, and what it takes to beat it.
Judicial ReviewResidents’ Groups & Community Challenges
Standing, structure, funding and continuity - the housekeeping that wins group cases.
Judicial ReviewDefending Your Permission When Objectors Go to Court
The developer’s side of the eight weeks: notice-party strategy, delay, and the endgames.
Judicial ReviewCPO: the Landowner’s First Steps
Week one with the envelope: the dates, the file, the five moves that commit you to nothing.
Judicial ReviewScreening Errors: the Ground That Keeps Deciding
EIA and AA at the gateway - why the record is binary, and both chairs’ view of it.
Homeowner & RuralExtensions & the 40-Square-Metre Question
The threshold everyone quotes and the conditions nobody reads - cumulative history included.
Homeowner & RuralAttic Conversions, Roof Windows & Permission
Front vs rear, dormers vs windows, storage vs habitable - the roofline rules decoded.
Homeowner & RuralShort-Term Lets, Airbnb & Planning Permission
The question of the era: principal residence, designated areas, the register - mapped honestly.
Homeowner & RuralOne-Off Housing: Local Needs, Explained
The gatekeeper policy - evidencing the criteria like the legal case the application is.
Homeowner & RuralGarden Rooms, Home Offices & the Rules
Size, height, siting - and use, the modern battleground the size limits never answer.