Planning register

Buncrana

Planning applications inside the Buncrana, Co. Donegal settlement, as recorded on the statutory register. The area is the CSO’s Census 2022 urban boundary.

Applications: 765
County: Donegal

Planning intelligence

What the data shows

The planning register for Buncrana contains 765 total applications, with recent lodgements showing 78 in 2023, 81 in 2024, and 88 in 2025. Since 2016, there have been 547 applications granted, refused, or part-granted, resulting in a 91% grant rate with 498 granted, 49 refused, and 0 part-granted. The most common development types are new dwellings at 25%, extensions at 19%, retentions at 13%, and changes of use at 9%. Recent decided examples, which were all granted, include projects such as a pre-school facility, modular buildings, and various dwelling and club house extensions.

An automated reading of the figures on this page. Every statement reflects the register data shown above; it is not advice or a prediction.

Grant rate

91%

of 547 applications granted, refused or part-granted since 2016.

Granted: 498
Refused: 49
No decision recorded: 218

Historical outcomes from the statutory register. Not a prediction for any individual application.

What’s being built

New dwelling: 25%
Extension: 19%
Retention: 13%
Change of use: 9%
Commercial: 7%
Alterations: 6%

Grant rate by category

How each kind of application has been decided in Buncrana, 2016–2026.

Category	Granted	Decided	Nationally
New dwelling	92%	137	81%
Extension	94%	112	95%
Retention	91%	64	90%
Change of use	93%	45	88%
Commercial	82%	33	88%
Alterations	100%	31	92%

“Decided” counts applications granted, refused or part-granted — withdrawn and invalid applications are excluded. Categories with fewer than 30 decided applications are not listed, because a rate over a handful of applications would not mean anything.

Activity over time

Applications lodged, by year

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'17

'18

'19

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'21

'22

'23

'24

'25

Grant rate, by year of decision

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'17

'18

'19

'20

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'22

'23

'24

'25

Recently lodged in Buncrana

Contains Irish Public Sector Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Settlement boundary: CSO Census 2022 urban areas (Tailte Éireann). Always confirm against the relevant authority’s official register.