Planning decision times by council — median and p90 days from lodgement to decision, and the further-information share

South Dublin County Council decided its planning applications in a median of 49 days in the 12 months to 12 September 2026 (n=1,129), and Kildare in 77 (n=925). The gap between the fastest and slowest of the seven Greater Dublin councils is four weeks at the median and more than six months at the 90th percentile — South Dublin's slowest tenth of applications took over 58 days, Kildare's over 252. The reason is in the last column: 25% of South Dublin's decided applications had a further-information request, and 50% of Kildare's.

The table

The days run from the council's receipt date to its decision date on the register. Section 34(8) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires a decision within eight weeks of receipt — 56 days — failing which permission is deemed granted, so a median under 56 is a council deciding inside the statutory period on most files. Above it, something stopped the clock.

What stretches the eight weeks

Three things, and the register shows each. The first is further information. Under articles 33–35 of the 2001 Regulations the council may ask once for further information, the applicant has six months to reply, and the council then has four weeks from the reply. An application with an FI request takes at least twelve weeks and often twenty, and the FI share in the table is the single best predictor of a council's median. Kildare, Wicklow and Meath — 50%, 40% and 36% — are where the one-off rural house is refused or redrawn, and the FI request is how the redrawing happens. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at 14%, has the lowest share and the second-fastest median.

The second is the week-eight decision. Most councils decide on or near day 56, because the planner's report is scheduled for the week before the deadline. Fingal's median of 53 and Dublin City's of 53 are that pattern; South Dublin's 49 is a council that clears its files a week early, which is the first-hand observation in this table worth a phone call.

The third is what the median hides. The 90th percentile — the point below which nine in ten applications were decided — is 58 days in South Dublin and 90 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, both near the FI-extended cycle. It is 156 in Fingal, 128 in Dublin City, and 195, 213 and 252 in Wicklow, Meath and Kildare, which means a tenth of applications in those counties took more than six months. Those are the files where the applicant took most of the six-month FI window to reply, and a slow reply is the applicant's delay recorded as the council's.

What it means for an applicant

Our reading: plan for the p90, not the median, if your application has any of the three FI triggers — a site outside a settlement, a protected structure, or a drainage question — and expect the median otherwise. A pre-planning meeting under section 247 is the cheapest way to move a file from the p90 to the median, because the question the planner would have asked by FI gets asked in a room instead.

The clock also matters after the decision. The four-week appeal window runs from the decision date, and the deadlines page counts it; the further-information guide covers what an FI request does to the observation window, which reopens for two weeks if the reply is significant enough to be re-advertised under article 35.

What it means for a neighbour

A council at a 49-day median is one where the five-week observation window closes and the decision follows within two weeks. There is no second chance after the window except the FI re-advertisement, and it happens on a minority of files. Watch the receipt date, not the site notice date.

Frequently asked questions

How long does planning permission take in Dublin?

The four Dublin councils decided applications in a median of 49 to 53 days over the last 12 months — South Dublin 49, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown 51, Fingal and Dublin City 53. A further-information request pushes a file to twelve weeks or more, and one in five Dublin applications gets one.

Which council is slowest to decide planning applications?

Of the seven Greater Dublin councils, Kildare, at a median of 77 days and a 90th percentile of 252, with a further-information request on half of its decided applications. Wicklow and Meath follow at 54 and 55 days at the median but with p90s over 190.

What happens if the council does not decide within eight weeks?

Under section 34(8) of the 2000 Act permission is deemed granted by default, subject to conditions the Regulations imply. Councils avoid it: the medians above 56 days are further-information cases, where the clock legitimately restarts, not defaults.

Does a further information request mean my application will be refused?

No. It means the planner needs something to decide, and the grant rate on FI files is close to the overall rate. It does add at least four weeks after your reply, and the six-month reply window is the main source of the long tail in the table.

The how-long guide walks through the clock stage by stage; the further-information guide covers the request that stretches it. See receipt and decision dates on any street in the Explorer at Tallaght, or open the South Dublin County Council place page and the Fingal place page for their live medians.

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.