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Briefs

What the planning record shows

The announcement is the least informative document in any big construction story. The filings underneath it are where the facts live. Briefs ground the news in Ireland’s public planning record - the applications, the timelines, the tells.

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By the numbers - live from the record

27,847
27,847 new homes were commenced across Ireland in the last 12 months.
CSO residential commencement notices to 2026-07; Dublin led the country. Commencements precede completions by 12 to 24 months.
21.0%
New homes clear build cost by 21.0% in Dublin - but sell 19.3% below it in Monaghan.
Indicative build-vs-sell headroom (hard build cost only).
56.9%
56.9% of appealed planning decisions are overturned in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
Across 2357 An Bord Pleanala appeals on record.
39%
Dublin alone accounts for 39% of Ireland's on-site construction value.
Dublin leads 26 counties with live activity.
R.T. FitzgibbonExempted developmentHousingRegulationsBuilding control

The first rewrite of Ireland's exemption rules in 25 years

Since 27 July 2026, a 45 m² rear extension and a 32 to 45 m² dwelling in the back garden can be built without planning permission. A whole tier of small residential projects now skips the planning register entirely - but it does not skip building control, and that is where the record keeps talking.

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R.T. FitzgibbonHealthDublinStrategic infrastructurePublic projects

The children's hospital, as told by its planning file

Ireland's most expensive building has generated a decade of headlines about money. Its planning file tells a quieter, stranger story: refused once for the skyline, granted in 2016 with 17 conditions - then altered eight times without a single change ever being ruled material.

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R.T. FitzgibbonSemiconductorsKildareIndustrialFDI

Intel's €5bn Leixlip investment: what the planning record actually shows

The €5bn programme was announced on 13 July. The paper trail at Kildare County Council started three and a half months earlier - and the single application on file tells you exactly what kind of investment this is.

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