Changes made to planning law

The Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026, signed into law in July 2026, aims to reduce delays incurred by judicial reviews, provide for the timely introduction of 10-year development plans by planning authorities, and accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure projects.

It aims to accelerate the implementation of new procedural rules for planning judicial review introduced in the Planning and Development Act 2024. This measure is to apply to decisions or acts carried out under the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The 2026 Act removes the requirement to apply for ‘leave’ to apply for judicial review. Applying for leave is the first step in judicial review proceedings and is used to filter out claims that may be trivial or without merit early.

Removal of the requirement is to enable cases to be remitted to the point at which a procedural breach may have occurred. It is to provide an alternative to quashing cases and aims to remove the possibility of a further legal appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The Act also extends the suspension of the duration of permissions due to judicial review contained in the 2024 Act to permissions under the 2000 Act subject to judicial review.

The Act also seeks to ensure 10-year development plans by planning authorities are introduced in a “timely” manner. It sets a deadline of 31 December 2027 for the completion of the review processes of the three regional spatial and economic strategies. Planning authorities must then design the new plans between July 2027 and July 2028.

Under the Act, planning authorities are also enabled to amend the duration of their current development plans. It allows for current development plans to remain in force on a “transitional basis” until no later than a specified date between February and December 2030. This date is linked to the date on which the plan was made under the 2000 Act.

The Act provides a new definition of ‘material contravention’ of development plans. In relation to a development plan made under the 2026 Act, it defines a contravention of the development plan as that which “fundamentally conflicts with the integrated overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the functional area to which the development plan relates”.

For development plans made under the 2000 Act, it defines it as that which “fundamentally conflicts with an objective of the development plan relating to the zoning of land in the functional area to which the development plan applies”.

The Act provides for planning applications for the distribution of electricity by statutory undertakers to be treated as a standard development. It also removes the requirement to have a maritime area consent in the pre-application consultation process for developments that are wholly or partially in a maritime area.

The Act also provides for the designation of towns with populations of 10,000 or more as ‘key towns’ and increases the statutory borrowing limit of the Housing Finance Agency from €13.5 billion to €15 billion.

During a Seanad Éireann debate in July 2026, Sinn Féin Senator Maria McCormack said: “It is unfortunate that [the Act] is being rushed through the Houses at breakneck speed and without proper scrutiny. It is a really bad way to make planning law and it likely will lead to errors, unintended consequences, legal challenges, and delays to much-needed infrastructure, housing, and public services.”