Tomathone Upper, Limerick

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• Retention planning permission in Ireland — refused 27% of the time, against 7% for extensionsOne in six Dublin applications is for retention, and 27% of retention decisions in the two years to September 2026 were refusals. When you need it, the treble fee, the seven-year rule and the sale-time problem.
• Planning enforcement in Ireland — 7,396 cases a year, the warning letter and the seven-year ruleCouncils opened 7,396 planning enforcement cases in 2024. What unauthorised development is, how a complaint becomes a s.152 warning letter and a s.154 notice, what the seven-year rule does and does not do, and how to report or answer one.
• Certificate of compliance with planning permission — what the architect's opinion covers and what it does notRetention applications were 17% of everything lodged in the GDA over 12 months, and a fifth of those decided were refused. What a certificate or opinion on compliance with planning permission says, who signs it, the Law Society and RIAI forms, and the gaps a buyer should close from the register.
• Where Dublin is building — commencement notices by local electoral area, 12 months3,366 commencement notices were lodged across the four Dublin councils in 12 months and geolinked to an electoral area; Pembroke led with 204 and Tallaght South trailed with 23. What a commencement notice is, why it is the signal that a permission is real, the ranking of all 31 electoral areas, and the month-by-month shape.