Cork city and suburbs
Planning applications inside the Cork city and suburbs, Co. Cork settlement, as recorded on the statutory register. The area is the CSO’s Census 2022 urban boundary.
What the data shows
Generated from this page’s figuresThe register for Cork city and suburbs shows 19143 total applications, with a grant rate of 89% across the 14831 applications decided since 2000, which include 13171 granted, 1645 refused, and 15 part-granted. Among development types, Extension is the most common at 32%, followed by New dwelling at 17%, Retention at 13%, and Commercial at 9%. In recent activity, 722 applications were lodged in 2023, 753 in 2024, and 656 in 2025. This is information, not legal advice.
An automated reading of the figures on this page. Every statement reflects the register data shown above; it is not advice or a prediction.
- 19,143
- inside the settlement boundary
- Cork
- CSO Census 2022
Decisions
Grant rate
89%
Also on the register, outside the rate: No decision recorded 4,312
Historical outcomes from the statutory register. Not a prediction for any individual application.
Show the numbers
| Outcome | Applications |
|---|---|
| Granted | 13,171 |
| Refused | 1,645 |
| Part granted, part refused | 15 |
| No decision recorded | 4,312 |
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 | 5,832 | 32% |
| New dwelling | 3,131 | 17% |
| Retention | 2,305 | 13% |
| Commercial | 1,590 | 9% |
| Alterations | 1,252 | 7% |
| Change of use | 1,119 | 6% |
Grant rate by type of development
| Type | Granted | Decided | Nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extension | 96% | 2,513 | 95% |
| New dwelling | 75% | 1,146 | 81% |
| Retention | 91% | 1,052 | 90% |
| Change of use | 89% | 562 | 88% |
| Alterations | 92% | 558 | 92% |
| Commercial | 93% | 537 | 88% |
| Housing estate | 85% | 315 | 78% |
| Apartments | 74% | 299 | 71% |
| Infrastructure | 93% | 246 | 91% |
| Industrial | 97% | 118 | 93% |
| Energy | 98% | 53 | 90% |
| Agricultural | 78% | 50 | 94% |
| Other | 98% | 46 | 88% |
| Demolition | 95% | 38 | 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“Decided” counts applications granted, refused or part-granted — withdrawn and invalid applications are excluded.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
21%
217 of 1,014 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.
Activity
Applications lodged
Show the numbers
| Year | Applications |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,408 |
| 2017 | 1,461 |
| 2018 | 1,368 |
| 2019 | 1,078 |
| 2020 | 694 |
| 2021 | 923 |
| 2022 | 775 |
| 2023 | 722 |
| 2024 | 753 |
| 2025 | 656 |
Grant rate by year
Show the numbers
| Year | Decided | Granted | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 947 | 881 | 93% |
| 2017 | 1,103 | 1,030 | 93% |
| 2018 | 1,057 | 944 | 89% |
| 2019 | 997 | 891 | 89% |
| 2020 | 710 | 631 | 89% |
| 2021 | 782 | 679 | 87% |
| 2022 | 751 | 655 | 87% |
| 2023 | 621 | 549 | 88% |
| 2024 | 618 | 550 | 89% |
| 2025 | 648 | 606 | 94% |
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Source the statutory planning registers; settlement boundary: CSO Census 2022 urban areas (Tailte Éireann) · Licence Irish Public Sector Data, CC BY 4.0Always confirm against the relevant authority’s official register.