Galway City planning applications
Every application lodged with Galway City Council, as recorded on the statutory planning register.
What the data shows
Generated from this page’s figuresFor Galway City Council, there are 3843 total applications on the register, with a grant rate of 87% of 3544 applications decided since 2016, consisting of 3073 granted, 471 refused, and 0 part-granted. The most common development types are Extension at 26%, Retention at 19%, Alterations at 13%, and New dwelling at 11%. Applications lodged recently include 331 in 2023, 325 in 2024, and 348 in 2025. Across the area, the zoning designations are Open space, park at 37%, Residential, mixed residential and other uses at 32%, and Community facilities at 8%.
An automated reading of the figures on this page. Every statement reflects the register data shown above; it is not advice or a prediction.
- 3,843
- every year on the register
- 3,529
- with a decision date recorded
- 343
- rolling, to today
Decisions
Grant rate
87%
Also on the register, outside the rate: No decision recorded 299
Historical outcomes from the statutory register. Not a prediction for any individual application.
Show the numbers
| Outcome | Applications |
|---|---|
| Granted | 3,073 |
| Refused | 471 |
| No decision recorded | 299 |
What’s being applied for
Types are read from each application's description; the most common are shown.
Show the numbers
| Type | Applications | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Extension | 994 | 26% |
| Retention | 738 | 19% |
| Alterations | 494 | 13% |
| New dwelling | 422 | 11% |
| Change of use | 370 | 10% |
| Commercial | 322 | 8% |
Grant rate by type of development
| Type | Granted | Decided | Nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extension | 93% | 880 | 95% |
| Retention | 82% | 637 | 90% |
| Alterations | 91% | 427 | 92% |
| New dwelling | 85% | 368 | 81% |
| Change of use | 82% | 325 | 88% |
| Commercial | 86% | 278 | 88% |
| Apartments | 76% | 138 | 71% |
| Infrastructure | 86% | 110 | 91% |
| Housing estate | 81% | 81 | 78% |
| Demolition | 89% | 36 | 86% |
“Decided” counts applications granted, refused or part-granted — withdrawn and invalid applications are excluded. Types with fewer than 30 decided applications are not listed, because a rate over a handful of applications would not mean anything.
Appeals
Appeals to An Bord Pleanála
23%
74 of 321 decided appeals reversed the council either way. Withdrawn and invalid appeals are excluded, because nothing was decided. Appeals are self-selected — only decisions someone chose to challenge appear here — so this is a record of appealed cases, not a measure of the council’s decisions overall.
Appeal outcomes by development type
| Development type | Changed on appeal | Nationally | Refusals granted | Permissions refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retention | 26% of 61 | 22% | 33% of 30 | 19% of 31 |
| Apartments | 22% of 46 | 25% | — | 13% of 32 |
| Commercial | 19% of 43 | 24% | — | — |
| Extension | 12% of 42 | 19% | — | 6% of 31 |
| New dwelling | 28% of 40 | 31% | — | — |
| Change of use | 44% of 32 | 24% | — | — |
“Changed on appeal” counts decided appeals where the Board reached a different answer to the council, in either direction. “Refusals granted” is the share of appeals against a refusal that won permission; “Permissions refused” is the reverse. A dash means fewer than 30 cases, which is too few to state a rate. Withdrawn and invalid appeals are excluded because nothing was decided, and appeals split across parts of a development are counted but kept out of every rate. Appeals are self-selected — only decisions someone chose to challenge appear here.
How long appeals take
18 weeks
National median, by year the appeal was decided
Measured from the date the appeal was lodged to the date An Bord Pleanála decided it, for appeals where the register records both. The median peaked at 61 weeks for appeals decided in 2023 and stood at 17 weeks in 2026. Appeals are decided by An Bord Pleanála, not by the council, so these figures describe the Board’s timelines for cases from this area — they are not a measure of how quickly the council works. A small number of records with a decision dated before the lodgement, or more than three years after it, are excluded.
Activity
Applications lodged
Show the numbers
| Year | Applications |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 356 |
| 2017 | 358 |
| 2018 | 422 |
| 2019 | 364 |
| 2020 | 344 |
| 2021 | 388 |
| 2022 | 332 |
| 2023 | 331 |
| 2024 | 325 |
| 2025 | 348 |
Grant rate by year
Show the numbers
| Year | Decided | Granted | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 229 | 202 | 88% |
| 2017 | 329 | 291 | 88% |
| 2018 | 392 | 347 | 89% |
| 2019 | 365 | 324 | 89% |
| 2020 | 317 | 279 | 88% |
| 2021 | 379 | 320 | 84% |
| 2022 | 317 | 269 | 85% |
| 2023 | 297 | 244 | 82% |
| 2024 | 326 | 287 | 88% |
| 2025 | 322 | 276 | 86% |
Zoning
Zoning designations
Counted by zoned area, not by hectare. Zoning context, not a compliance assessment. View the plan.
Show the numbers
| Zone type | Zoned areas | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Open space, park | 363 | 37% |
| Residential, mixed residential and other uses | 311 | 32% |
| Community facilities | 82 | 8% |
| City/Town/village Centre, central area | 67 | 7% |
| Industrial, enterprise, employment | 63 | 6% |
| Agriculture | 36 | 4% |