Appeals overturned by council — how often An Coimisiún Pleanála reverses each Dublin council, and in which direction

An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála) reversed the council's decision on 301 of the 1,195 Dublin planning appeals it decided in the 24 months to 12 September 2026, one in four. The rate runs from 23% for Dublin City to 30% for South Dublin, and it matches the 24% the Office of the Planning Regulator reports nationally. The number that changes what you should do is the direction: 76 of Fingal's 85 reversals turned a council refusal into a grant, and only 9 went the other way.

How the number is built

An appeal to the Commission under section 37 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 is decided afresh: the inspector and the Commission look at the application as if the council had never seen it, and they can grant what the council refused, refuse what it granted, or grant on different conditions. We link each decided appeal to the council decision under it, keep the ones where the council's decision was a plain grant or refusal, and call it overturned where the Commission went the other way — a council grant refused, or a council refusal granted in whole or in part. Conditions-only appeals under section 139 and appeals withdrawn or dismissed are outside the count.

The table covers the four Dublin councils, where we hold the appeal feed and the register together. Kildare, Meath and Wicklow are outside it. A council with fewer than 30 decided appeals would be left out of the ranking; none of the four is near that floor.

The direction matters more than the rate

Read the two middle columns before the last one. In every Dublin council the reversals run mostly one way, from the council's refusal to the Commission's grant: 69 of Dublin City's 102, 46 of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown's 75, 32 of South Dublin's 39, and 76 of Fingal's 85. The Commission refusing what a council granted is rarer everywhere, and rarest in Fingal, where it happened 9 times in two years.

That asymmetry has a plain cause. The applicant appeals a refusal at a cost of €220 against a scheme worth a great deal more, so nearly every refusal of a sizeable scheme is appealed. A third party appealing a grant has to have made a submission first, pays the same fee, and is arguing against a decision the council's own planners wrote a report to support. Fewer of those appeals are made, and fewer succeed.

Our reading, for the two people who use this table: if you are an applicant refused by Fingal, appeal — the Commission granted nine in ten of the refusals it reversed there, and reversal is a quarter of all outcomes. If you are a neighbour of a grant in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, the 29 grants the Commission refused in two years are the ceiling of what a third-party appeal achieves, out of 310 decided; your submission during the five weeks is worth more than the appeal after.

An example in each direction

South Dublin granted a five-storey mixed-use scheme of 50 units on the Silver Granite pub site in Palmerstown in May 2022 (SD21A/0271); the Commission refused it on appeal (ABP-313828-22). The same council granted 127 apartments at Cherry Orchard Industrial Estate as a large-scale residential development in July 2023 (LRD23A/0003) and the Commission upheld the grant (ABP-317668-23). The inspector's report on each is on the appeal page, and the difference between them — a site the plan zoned for the density and one it did not — is the difference the table cannot show.

Time and what it costs

Section 126 sets the Commission an 18-week objective for deciding an appeal. The Dublin appeals we hold took a median of about 120 days from receipt to decision over the last two years — 116 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, 119 in Fingal, 121 in South Dublin, 124 in Dublin City — so the objective is met for a normal appeal and missed for one with an oral hearing or a large scheme. The 2023 annual report records the backlog the Commission was working through; the current figures are on its site.

Appeals are 8% of council decisions across the seven councils in the last 12 months (683 of 8,617). A quarter of those reversed is one council decision in fifty changed by the Commission, which is the size of the appeal system's effect on the register as a whole.

Frequently asked questions

How often does An Bord Pleanála overturn the council?

In the Dublin appeals decided over the last 24 months, An Coimisiún Pleanála reversed the council on 25% — 301 of 1,195. The Office of the Planning Regulator's national figure for 2024 was 24%.

Which Dublin council is overturned most on appeal?

South Dublin, at 30% of 128 appeals decided in 24 months; then Fingal at 27%, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 24% and Dublin City at 23%.

Are refusals or grants more likely to be reversed?

Refusals. In every Dublin council most reversals turned a council refusal into a grant; in Fingal it was 76 of 85. The Commission refusing what a council granted is rarer, and depends on a third party having made a submission during the application.

Can I appeal if I did not object to the application?

Only with leave from the Commission under section 37(6), which is available to an adjoining owner or occupier who can show the permitted development differs materially from what was applied for. Otherwise the right to appeal belongs to the applicant and to those who made a submission.

How long does a planning appeal take?

The Commission's objective is 18 weeks; the Dublin appeals we hold took about 120 days at the median over the last two years. Oral hearings and large schemes take longer.

The appeals guide covers the four weeks, the fee and the form; the most-refused types guide shows which refusals are appealed. See appeals on the map in the Explorer at Palmerstown, or open the South Dublin County Council place page and the Fingal place page for their live appeal figures.

Figures from the register and the Commission's decision lists on 12 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); law checked 12 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.