Castlevaragh Hotel The Square , Castlepollard , Co. Westmeath

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• Protected structures and architectural conservation areas — what needs permission, the free section 57 declaration, and what the register shows368 applications naming a protected structure were decided across the Greater Dublin councils in 12 months and 88% were granted. What being on the Record of Protected Structures means, what an ACA takes away from the ordinary exemptions, how to get a section 57 declaration, and what buyers should check.
• Hotel and aparthotel planning applications in Dublin — 253 files in three years, three-quarters of them in the city253 applications mentioning a hotel, aparthotel or hostel reached the Greater Dublin registers in 36 months, 141 granted and 35 refused. Dublin City holds 185 of them, and the live files are the big ones — a ten-year permission on the Citigroup building at North Wall Quay, a 188-bedroom hotel at Drogheda's IDA park, a nightclub on Dame Court turning into a 14-room boutique hotel. What the files are, where they are refused, and every recent one linked.
• Planning application fees and costs in Ireland — €34 for an extension, €65 for a house, treble for retentionThe council fee is the smallest cost of a planning application. Schedule 9 fees for a house, an extension, retention and commercial floor space; the €20 observation, the €220 appeal, development contributions and what the drawings and notices cost.
• Site notice planning rules — 22% of Dublin applications invalid, and the notice is the top cause2,539 of the 11,409 applications received by Dublin councils in the year to September 2026 were declared invalid; in South Dublin nearly half were for the site notice. What it must say, where it goes, when it turns yellow.