Guides › Planning permission, step by step
Planning permission for a one-off house in Ireland: the process step by step
Applying for permission to build a house in Ireland follows set steps: public notices, the application to the
council, five weeks when anyone can comment, and a decision within eight weeks unless the council asks for further
information. After a grant, there's a four-week window for appeals. Most of the work, and the risk, is in what you find
out and prepare before you apply.
How InSite helps
- Before you apply, one report shows which extra reports you're likely to need: a flood risk assessment (flood zones), AA screening (SACs/SPAs nearby), an archaeological assessment (SMR zone), a site suitability assessment (no public sewer).
- It shows the zoning and planning history on and around the site, including refusals.
- It flags protected structures and ACAs, which take away exempted development and shape design.
Free, from public data. Enter an Eircode or address:
or choose a location on the map
Before you apply
- Check the site. Zoning or local need, access, wastewater, flood, heritage and nature. See
is my site buildable?
- Pre-planning. Ask the council for a pre-planning meeting.
- Surveys and reports. Usually a site survey, a site
suitability assessment if there's no sewer, and anything the site needs: a
flood risk assessment,
AA screening, an archaeological assessment.
- Design. Drawings to the council's requirements, usually by an architect or technician.
The application
- Public notices. A newspaper notice and a site notice, both within the two weeks before you lodge.
The site notice must stay up and readable for five weeks from when the council receives the application.
- Lodge the application with the forms, drawings, reports and fee. If anything required is missing,
the council can declare it invalid and you start again.
- Submissions. Anyone can make a written submission or observation within five weeks of the council
receiving the application.
- Decision. The council normally decides within eight weeks. It may grant, grant with conditions,
refuse, or ask for further information, which stops the
clock.
After the decision
- Appeals. You, or anyone who made a submission, can appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An
Bord Pleanála) within four weeks of the decision.
- Final grant. If nobody appeals, the council issues the final grant after the appeal period.
- Conditions. Read them all. Some must be agreed with the council before you start ("prior to
commencement").
- How long it lasts. A permission normally lasts five years.
- Before you build. Lodge a commencement notice with the Building Control Authority, at least 14 days
before starting work.
The Planning and Development Act 2024 is being brought into force in stages and changes parts of
this process. Check the current rules with your council or on gov.ie.
Common reasons for refusal
- Not meeting the rural housing (local need) policy
- Traffic hazard from the entrance (sightlines)
- Wastewater: the site can't treat effluent safely
- Flood risk, effects on a European site, or the design and its effect on the landscape
Last reviewed 2026-10-02.
Check any site in Ireland
One free report from public data: terrain, flood risk, geology, archaeology, protected areas, radon, planning history and more.
or choose a location on the map
Related guides
- Before you buy a siteA checklist of what to find out about a site before you buy it: title, planning, access, services, ground and protections.
- Is my site buildable?The constraints that most often stop or shape a new house in Ireland, and how to check each one early.
- Septic tanks and percolation testsThe EPA Code figures: how percolation tests work, what passes, how big the percolation area is, and how far it must be from houses, wells and streams.
- Local need and rural housingWhy councils ask about local need for a one-off rural house, how the policy varies by county, and how to check yours.
- Connecting a new houseHow to get electricity, water, wastewater and broadband to a new house, and what to find out before you buy the site.
- Pre-planning meetingsHow to request a pre-planning meeting with your council, what it can and can't tell you, and how to prepare.
- Site constraints reportsWhat a site constraints or pre-planning report contains, where the information comes from, and what still needs a professional.
All guides →
