Removing barriers to housing delivery in the Republic of Ireland
Having completed her research project, Adele Maher MRTPI - recipient of a RTPI Practitioner Research Fund grant in 2023 - reflects on her experience and research findings.
The Republic of Ireland needs to build a lot of homes. The Government’s housing delivery strategy makes it clear that an effective planning system is critical to doing this at speed.
The Government has introduced measures to help, most notably the Planning and Development Act 2024 and the Ministerial Action Plan on Planning Resources. But more is needed.
What is missing is a parallel assessment of how well the planning application process is functioning. Is it easy and simple to make an application and get a decision? Is it working as well as it could? Could improvements be made?
These questions became the focus of my research, Identifying Opportunities for Efficiencies in the Irish Planning Application Process. That was made possible by the RTPI’s Planning Practitioner Fund and the invaluable contribution of participants.
Applying user-centred design to planning
I focused on full planning applications for housing and mapped the application process as a nine-stage user journey. This formed the framework for the discussion and recording.
Available at: Plan✕ Resources.
I interviewed housebuilders, planning consultants, local planning authority officers and government bodies who are deeply involved in moving development from pre-application to a decision.
They shared their first-hand experience of the process and what they saw as problems and opportunities for improvement.
Their responses, 966 in total, painted a detailed picture of how things actually work in practice and where the system is breaking down.
Problems and opportunities revealed
A consistent picture emerged. The responses from all participants highlighted several systemic issues that cascade and multiply through the process. One of the most notable was the failure at the pre-application stage. Here, inadequate advice leads to incomplete submissions. This triggers requests for Further Information that housebuilders report affect up to 90% of housing applications. These can add six months to timelines and delay an estimated 33,000 units annually. Participants also shared how they felt compelled to undertake unnecessary site visits that consume 42.5 full-time planning positions and cost €2.6 million a year.
Root cause analysis traced these failures to a single challenge: no one is actively taking ownership over the effective running of the system and managing it as a public service. As someone interviewed put it: “Everyone wants improvement, no one has authority to deliver it.”
What needs to change
You cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Ireland needs to move out of its comfort zone. The current system keeps people working in silos. A shift is needed from process to user-centred outcomes. That means all parts and partners operating as one to make it simpler, easier and faster for anyone to make a planning application and receive a decision. That requires leadership at the highest level, with direct accountability for delivering one whole system that works for users and meets the needs of the country first and foremost.
The establishment of an efficiency working group under the Ministerial Action Plan signals an appetite for change. The research sets out five reforms that work as an integrated system to make this happen, and provides the evidence base to support it.
From planning in silos to planning as a public service
Ireland can learn from others, like digital planning transformation in England and the Netherlands, and can chart its own path to success.
Ireland has every ingredient to deliver something remarkable: a planning application service that could genuinely be world-class. It has willingness across all parties, a system small enough to coordinate, and a strong geospatial foundation with national platforms. A new development plan cycle and the National Planning Project's push for a single national ICT solution create a rare window of opportunity.
This study has revealed that the potential for a modern planning application service in Ireland is real and within reach. My hope is that this research is not an ending, but a beginning.
