Galway County planning applications
Every application lodged with Galway County Council, as recorded on the statutory planning register.
What the data shows
Generated from this page’s figuresThe register for Galway County Council records 20921 total applications, with recent lodgements showing 1684 in 2023, 1809 in 2024, and 1920 in 2025. Across 18160 applications granted, refused, or part-granted since 2016, the grant rate is 85%, reflecting 15488 granted, 2672 refused, and 0 part-granted. The most common development types are new dwelling at 38%, retention at 18%, extension at 14%, and alterations at 7%. Zoning designations feature open space, park at 30%, existing residential at 26%, and mixed/general transport uses at 9%.
An automated reading of the figures on this page. Every statement reflects the register data shown above; it is not advice or a prediction.
- 20,921
- every year on the register
- 18,134
- with a decision date recorded
- 1,942
- rolling, to today
Decisions
Grant rate
85%
Also on the register, outside the rate: No decision recorded 2,761
Historical outcomes from the statutory register. Not a prediction for any individual application.
Show the numbers
| Outcome | Applications |
|---|---|
| Granted | 15,488 |
| Refused | 2,672 |
| No decision recorded | 2,761 |
What’s being applied for
Types are read from each application's description; the most common are shown.
Show the numbers
| Type | Applications | Share |
|---|---|---|
| New dwelling | 8,006 | 38% |
| Retention | 3,675 | 18% |
| Extension | 2,846 | 14% |
| Alterations | 1,455 | 7% |
| Agricultural | 1,404 | 7% |
| Commercial | 822 | 4% |
Grant rate by type of development
| Type | Granted | Decided | Nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| New dwelling | 79% | 6,815 | 81% |
| Retention | 91% | 3,024 | 90% |
| Extension | 92% | 2,415 | 95% |
| Alterations | 94% | 1,237 | 92% |
| Agricultural | 89% | 1,072 | 94% |
| Commercial | 83% | 647 | 88% |
| Infrastructure | 91% | 582 | 91% |
| Change of use | 87% | 484 | 88% |
| Housing estate | 65% | 407 | 78% |
| Other | 88% | 289 | 88% |
| Industrial | 85% | 125 | 93% |
| Energy | 86% | 106 | 90% |
| Apartments | 51% | 85 | 71% |
| Demolition | 92% | 59 | 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“Decided” counts applications granted, refused or part-granted — withdrawn and invalid applications are excluded.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
30%
187 of 619 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New dwelling | 35% of 179 | 31% | 28% of 99 | 43% of 80 |
| Retention | 31% of 96 | 22% | 45% of 44 | 19% of 52 |
| Housing estate | 29% of 79 | 27% | 31% of 49 | 27% of 30 |
| Commercial | 41% of 56 | 24% | — | 26% of 31 |
| Infrastructure | 23% of 40 | 27% | — | 10% of 30 |
| Extension | 21% of 38 | 19% | — | — |
“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
19 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 | 1,751 |
| 2017 | 1,853 |
| 2018 | 1,849 |
| 2019 | 1,933 |
| 2020 | 1,975 |
| 2021 | 2,427 |
| 2022 | 2,146 |
| 2023 | 1,684 |
| 2024 | 1,809 |
| 2025 | 1,920 |
Grant rate by year
Show the numbers
| Year | Decided | Granted | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,023 | 964 | 94% |
| 2017 | 1,514 | 1,420 | 94% |
| 2018 | 1,682 | 1,525 | 91% |
| 2019 | 1,733 | 1,491 | 86% |
| 2020 | 1,633 | 1,372 | 84% |
| 2021 | 2,082 | 1,720 | 83% |
| 2022 | 2,036 | 1,557 | 76% |
| 2023 | 1,548 | 1,213 | 78% |
| 2024 | 1,698 | 1,447 | 85% |
| 2025 | 1,742 | 1,560 | 90% |
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 | 1,695 | 30% |
| Existing residential | 1,459 | 26% |
| Mixed/general transport uses | 513 | 9% |
| Water | 350 | 6% |
| City/Town/village Centre, central area | 292 | 5% |
| New/proposed residential | 264 | 5% |