Metrics on planning applications per Panning Authority. This data is provided by each local authority to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH). These are returned following an annual request to provide data on the relevant metrics. Guidance is given to the local authorities and is shown in the ‘Notes for Completion of Return’ tab of the data published on the Department's website - https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/2025-annual-planning-application-statistics/. There is potential that different local authorities have interpreted this guidance in slightly different ways.
An additional note of guidance to the local authorities is that where a planning application is relevant to various categories, it should be counted in each of these categories. Therefore, the sum of the applications per category is not the total number of individual applications received/refused in the local authority in 2025. This disaggregation was requested to align with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) publications of planning permissions granted. Local authorities were requested to categorise planning applications as per how the CSO do for their publications.
For some local authorities there were system challenges with providing full disaggregated figures for all the categories. In particular, there were challenges for 'Civil Engineering' and 'Other Functional Categories' as these categories were not always available as options within their systems. For many local authorities a manual review of records to recode these applications was not feasible to undertake.
Due to a change in methodology for 2025 - with applications now broken down by category with refined guidance - it is not suitable to make comparisons between figures for this year and that previously published by DHLGH for historical years. Care should also be made when examining these figures alongside figures on decisions to grant published by the CSO. This is due to the challenges mentioned above and potential for different interpretations by different local authorities.
Please note that the totals for Valid Applications Received and Decisions to Refuse are the total number across all categories - where applications can be in multiple categories. However, the figures for Invalid, Decided within 8 weeks, and Decision Deferred are just the number of individual applications. Therefore, it is not appropriate to calculate these are a percentage of total applications received.
The DHLGH is committed to improving the robustness of its planning reporting and is working with local authorities and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to ensure greater levels of consistency and coherency of data. This aligns with action 16v of the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce Report: ‘Require standardised quarterly data submission from Planning Authorities and key Utilities’.
