Planning Permission Affects Home Movers Amid Ireland’s Housing Shortage
Fewer home movers are being approved for mortgages as Ireland’s housing shortage tightens the planning permission landscape, impacting supply and demand.
The ongoing shortage of available homes in Ireland is causing a marked slowdown in mortgage approvals for those looking to move, with planning permission processes playing a pivotal role. This scarcity stems in part from delays tied to planning permission bottlenecks and stringent environmental and flood-risk development assessments. As a result, fewer dwellings are entering the market, limiting home-moving opportunities and putting pressure on prices.
Planning permission delays have intensified due to the complex nature of assessments required, including evaluations of environmental impact and flood-risk development considerations. An Bord Pleanála’s decisions, vital for advancing major housing schemes, often face procedural backlogs and challenges arising from perceived material contravention issues. These regulatory hurdles prolong approval times, discouraging developers from initiating or completing projects and exacerbating housing shortages nationwide.
Recent reforms, such as the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2025, seek to alleviate these delays by streamlining approval stages, reducing judicial review risks, and enabling flexibility in housing scheme approval and design amendments. Nonetheless, experts warn that planning permission alone cannot resolve the crisis without concurrent measures addressing infrastructure, environmental safeguards, and sustainable growth strategies.
Government efforts also include interim measures targeting energy affordability intertwined with planning permission conditions. The National Energy Affordability Taskforce recommends integrating energy resilience within flood-risk development plans to support sustainable housing schemes. This holistic approach aims to smooth An Bord Pleanála decisions while maintaining compliance with environmental impact standards, helping to unblock stalled projects and promote steady delivery of much-needed homes.
Looking ahead, tackling the ongoing housing shortage requires coordinated improvements across multiple fronts: accelerating planning permission timelines, clarifying material contravention guidelines, enhancing environmental and flood-risk development management, and ensuring housing scheme approval processes foster timely, effective construction. Without these reforms, the supply-demand imbalance will likely persist, continuing to restrict home movers’ access to mortgages and affordable housing options.
Originally reported in The Irish Independent on Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:04:17 +0000. Full story
