Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown planning permission: how often it is granted, and how long it takes

How Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown compares with the other councils

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown ranks 17th of 30 councils on the share of applications granted, with 90%, close to the 90% of the median council. A typical decision comes faster than at the median council: 53 days against 55. Few files drag on: nine in ten decisions came within 117 days, against 209 days at the median council, the shortest such delay of any council.

Requests for further information are less frequent here: the register records one on 14% of all the decisions it records, against 39% for the median council, the lowest share of any council, and decisions are no slower than the median. None of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown's decisions in the 12 months is flagged as a one-off house in the register.

Applications are up. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown received 2,026 in 2025, 46% more than the 1,384 of 2019. 2025 was the busiest full year in the register since 2019.

What Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown reported for 2025

After dwellings (976), the second-largest group in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown's return is other functional categories, with 146: only Wexford and Roscommon counted more there. Commercial premises follow with 71 and government, health and education buildings with 28. Industrial and social-use buildings are rare, at 5 each, and farm buildings number 1. Refusals totalled 120: 100 on houses and 17 in other functional categories, while none of them concerned commercial premises. With 1,032 applications decided within 8 weeks, the council has the fifth-highest count on that line. Its 17 refusals in other functional categories are the third-highest count, after Wexford and Wicklow, and public projects drew 3. Filings jumped from 1,703 in 2024 to 2,026 in 2025. On government, health and education buildings, its 28 applications place the council 6th of 30.

These figures come from each council's annual return to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: applications received in 2025, decisions to refuse and other measures, published under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. An application that fits several categories is counted in each, so the categories do not add up to a number of applications, and the Department notes that councils may have read its guidance in slightly different ways.

Following an application in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

The national register gives no link to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown's files. The council's planning page on dlrcoco.ie points to its online search at planning.agileapplications.ie/dunlaoghaire.