Since the enactment of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Act of 2000), the planning landscape changed profoundly over the subsequent two decades and it became clear that the legislation governing and underpinning the planning system required a major overhaul. Consequently, in 2021 a comprehensive review of the Act of 2000 was initiated by Government. The culmination of the subsequent work resulted in the Planning and Development Act 2024 (Act of 2024) which was enacted on 17 October 2024.
The Act of 2024 continues to be being brought into operation on a phased basis, facilitating the transition from the arrangements under Act of 2000 to those under the new legislative framework. Given the scale of the Act of 2024, commencement is a complex task and it remains a priority that throughout this reform process, there is minimal disruption to the current planning system which must remain operational given its critical importance to facilitate the delivery of strategic infrastructure and housing.
Amongst a range of new and innovative provisions, the Act of 2024 introduces statutory timelines for all development consent processes so that parties can have confidence in the timeliness of decision-making. The Act also provides a significantly revised corporate structure for An Coimisiún Pleanála (formally An Bord Pleanála) with a separation of corporate, decision making and governance functions to help meet its new statutory obligations. The headline time periods for An Coimisiún Pleanála range from 18 weeks for appeals of decisions of planning authorities on smaller-scale development proposals, to 48 weeks for larger-scale developments, such as 'strategic infrastructure developments'. The varying timelines reflect the differing complexities of development consent applications.
Public participation is a long established and key element of all substantive decision-making processes under the Act of 2000 and this continues under the Act of 2024. It is open to any person to make a submission or observation in relation to a planning application during the public consultation period and on payment of the required fee. When commenced, sections 587 and 588 of the Act of 2024 will introduce new procedures to address 'spurious' planning submissions, appeals and judicial reviews, while ensuring public participation for genuine purposes is maintained. These new provisions will -
• prohibit a person from requesting a payment for agreeing not to make a submission or observation on an application, an appeal or a judicial review, or taking a payment to withdraw a submission/observation, appeal or a judicial review,
• require that submissions or observations on a planning application or an appeal must be accompanied by a statutory declaration stating that the submission or observation is not being made for the purposes of delaying a development or receiving a payment. A similar declaration must be made when taking a judicial review. A declaration must also be made when withdrawing a submission/observation, appeal or judicial review. It will also be an offence to submit a false declaration.
One of the most important areas of reform under the Act of 2024 is provided for under Part 9, which updates the processes and procedures of planning judicial review. Reforms include:
• Removing the leave to apply for judicial review stage, reducing time and removing unnecessary additional legal costs to all parties,
• Requiring that applications for judicial review may only be made on the grounds of challenge raised by the applicant in the statement of grounds filed with their application and sets out limited criteria by which the Court may allow subsequent amendments to that statement of grounds.
• Applicants for judicial review must have a sufficient interest in the matter, such as being directly or indirectly materially affected, or having made submissions at the decision making stage. Unincorporated bodies, such as residents’ associations, maintain the right to take judicial review proceedings, subject to being directly or indirectly materially affected by the matter and satisfying certain governance criteria. Subject to specified governance criteria, the special protected status of environmental non-governmental organisations to take judicial review proceedings is maintained, where proceedings relate to a development likely to have significant effects on the environment or a European site, or relate to an act or omission in contravention of a provision of the Act of 2024 relating to the environment.
• Provision is made for the High Court to direct the amendment of a decision or a document where it would be a satisfactory remedy, to quash an aspect of a decision made without declaring it invalid or to remit a matter back to the relevant body and direct that body to take additional steps as appropriate. These provisions mean that entire planning decisions do not need to be quashed where alternative appropriate remedies are available to address the matters raised.
• Removing the right of appeal of a decision of the High Court to the Court of Appeal but recognising and maintaining the constitutional right to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Part 9 also facilitates the introduction of cost mechanisms while maintaining compliance with Ireland’s commitments under the Aarhus Convention. The aim of the reforms are to expedite the processes relating to the taking of a judicial review, lowering costs so that accessing a judicial review is not prohibitively expensive and safeguarding access to justice.
As set out in Action 2 of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan published in December 2025, the Government has committed to the development of a Critical Infrastructure Bill to create a legal obligation for State bodies to recognise and accelerate key projects through planning, licensing and other consenting stages, as well as the development of legislation incorporating emergency provisions that will allow the Government to speed up specific critical infrastructure in emergencies. The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation is leading on this Action.
