The most refused planning application types in Dublin — retention first, apartments second, extensions last

Retention was the development type the seven Greater Dublin councils refused most often in the 12 months to 12 September 2026: 140 of 510 retention applications decided, or 27%. Apartments were next at 20% (58 of 284), then new houses, demolitions and changes of use at 15%, and at the bottom, extensions at 7% (89 of 1,225). A council's headline grant rate is mostly a statement of what it was asked; this guide is about the asking.

The table

The type is read from the register description by keyword, so it is coarse: an application for "demolition of a bungalow and construction of 4 houses" counts as houses, and a scheme that is both retention and extension counts as retention. A rate is refused divided by granted plus refused. Invalid, withdrawn and undecided applications are outside the denominator, as they are throughout the guides.

Three things stand out. Retention is refused at nearly four times the rate of extensions, which is the same work asked for afterwards instead of before. Apartments are refused at a third more than houses, and the apartment refusals cluster in a handful of councils. And the large "Other" category — everything from signage to a change of house type on a permitted scheme — sits at the average, which is a reminder that the types below it are the ones worth reading.

Why retention leads

A retention application asks the council to permit what is already built, under section 34(12) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 as ordinary permission, and the council decides it as if the work were proposed. Two things then push the rate up. The work was often done because the owner suspected it would not be permitted — a side extension to the boundary, a garage converted with a front door, a second dwelling in a shed. And the file arrives without the design conversation a normal application gets: no pre-planning meeting, no further information that redraws the scheme, because the scheme is poured.

The rate differs sharply by council, and here the register shows something the headline hides. Fingal refused 94 of the 259 retention applications it decided in the last year, 36%; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown refused 24 of 128, 19%; Dublin City 28 of 142 and South Dublin 26 of 141, both around 19%. Fingal's register conventions do not explain a gap that size. Our reading: Fingal's rural half — Naul, Ballyboughal, Oldtown — generates retention cases for agricultural buildings and changes of use that are refused on rural housing and access grounds, and a retention refusal in Ring Commons, Naul, on 25 August 2026 (F26A/0572E) is a typical entry. In Monkstown the same week, DLR refused retention of a rear extension at 50 Richmond Park (D26B/0382/WEB), which is the suburban version.

Why apartments are second

Apartment refusals are density arguments, and they go one of two ways. A scheme is refused for too little — it is a mews of four units where the plan wants twenty — or for too much, on height, overlooking and the amenity of what is next door. Apartment refusals then travel: a refused scheme of any size goes to An Coimisiún Pleanála, and the appeals guide shows the Commission granting a large share of what the Dublin councils refused. A refused apartment scheme is a first offer.

New houses at 15% are a mix of the one-off rural house, refused on the local-need and access policies of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, and the urban infill house squeezed onto a side garden, refused on plot width and overlooking. The two have nothing in common except the word "house".

Why extensions are last

An extension application has usually already survived the exemption test — it is over 40 m² (45 m² from 27 July 2026), or to the front, or on a house that has used its exemption — and it arrives with drawings by someone who has read the council's house-extension guidelines. The 7% that are refused are refused on daylight to the neighbour's kitchen, on the loss of private open space below 25 m², or on the two-storey rear extension in a terrace. The extension guide sets out the July 2026 rules that moved the line.

What to do with the table

If you are applying, the table says where the council will look hardest. A retention case needs the design justification a first application would have had, written after the fact. An apartment scheme needs the density argument made against the plan's own figures. If you are objecting, the table says where an objection is pushing on an open door: retention and apartments are the types where a well-founded observation changes the outcome, and extensions are the type where it rarely does.

If you are reading a council's grant rate, divide before you compare. A council whose register is 20% retention and a third apartments will refuse more than one that is mostly extensions, without being any stricter; the grant rates guide carries the caveat in full.

Frequently asked questions

What type of planning application is refused most in Ireland?

In the Greater Dublin registers, retention: 27% of retention applications decided in the last 12 months were refused, against 7% of extension applications. Apartments were second at 20%.

Why are retention applications refused more often?

The work was often done because the owner doubted it would be permitted, and the application arrives without the pre-planning and further-information stages that reshape a normal scheme. Fingal refuses retention at about twice the rate of the other Dublin councils, largely on rural cases.

Are apartments refused more than houses?

Yes, 20% against 15% in the last 12 months across the seven councils. Refused apartment schemes are routinely appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála, where a large share are then granted.

How often is a house extension refused?

7% of extension applications decided in the last 12 months across the Greater Dublin councils, the lowest of any type. Refusals turn on daylight, private open space and two-storey rear extensions in terraces.

The retention guide covers the application behind the top row; the grant rates guide puts the council rates beside these. See what was refused on any street in the Explorer around Swords, or open the Fingal place page for the council with the highest retention refusal rate.

Figures from the register 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.