Delivering robust permitting
For any commercial development in Ireland, planning and environmental permitting run through the entire project lifecycle, intersecting with land acquisition, grid consent, financing, and eventual disposal.
Permitting is not just a phase of the project. It runs through every commercial decision throughout the project lifecycle. At land acquisition stage, permitting status drives price and structure, determining whether a site can deliver the intended use before a purchaser commits capital.
Conditional contracts, option agreements, and due diligence should be calibrated against permitting timelines and risk. For energy and infrastructure projects, the grid consent process requires close sequencing with planning. Misalignment between the two consent tracks is a recurring cause of project slippage.
Permitting is equally important for financing. Lenders will scrutinise permission terms before committing funds, wanting certainty that permits are valid, not subject to challenge, or to unworkable conditions.
At disposal, a permit is itself an asset that transfers with a sale, not just the underlying site, and purchasers will expect confirmation that conditions have been discharged and that the permit remains valid and unchallenged.
Planning considerations are more important and nuanced than ever, particularly following the enactment, in stages, of the Planning and Development Act 2024. One of its most consequential reforms for commercial developers is now firmly in force: the new Part 9 judicial review code, effective from 1 August 2025.
Under Part 9, applicants no longer need High Court permission to bring a challenge. Other streamlining measures include confining applicants to the grounds pleaded at the outset, and giving the High Court the new power to order correction of a discrete error rather than overturn an entire permission.
For a sector that has watched judicial review timelines drive up cost and uncertainty on major projects, this is a positive development which should be carefully understood. As further parts of the 2024 Act continue to come into operation, close monitoring of their implementation remains essential.
Matheson’s environmental, planning and safety group is one of the largest and most experienced in Ireland, with market-leading expertise across many industries. From data centres, transport, and food and drink facilities, to power generation, extraction, waste, and pharma/chemical projects, we help our clients to achieve prompt planning and permitting decisions.
Working with our real estate, energy, infrastructure, construction, finance, and corporate departments, we provide our clients with seamless, multidisciplinary advice across the entire lifecycle of a project, aligning legal strategy with project goals.
