Build first, ask later – how thousands are building without planning permission and getting away with it | Independent.ie

by happyhigherb

20 comments

  1. Haven’t people been doing this forever, build and seek retention

  2. And if they reject it and make you pull the whole thing down?

  3. Weren’t we meant to get rid of retention permission years ago?

    If not, all such builds should be torn down, we don’t need more one off messes

  4. If the planning system wasn’t such a laborious, time consuming and expensive process subject to the whims of a planning officer on a power trip then this wouldn’t happen.

  6. Shure the whole system is a mess and the last head of ABP was corrupt

  8. The planning system is a complete disgrace. We left as a result of it, being denied planning to build on an acre gifted to us back in 2007. Considering moving back next year and would prefer to buy land and build, I dread the thought of being out through the process again. The corruption and incompetence mix is at a level so toxic I can’t understand how it hasn’t been brought to task.

  9. I don’t blame them. You have land, you want to build your house on it, the government should only prevent you from doing so in extreme circumstances.

    Here’s an article from the Business Post today showing how the housing crisis all over Europe is caused by red tape.

    All the hate towards the private market in the country, however the private market have for years said that the existing extent of regulation has been the issue.

    https://www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opinion/europes-red-tape-puts-e82-billion-in-housing-investment-at-risk/

    The US has its own issues with housing, but it’s nowhere near as bad as Europe. The US ethos has always been one of minimum government intervention and eliminating regulations wherever possible.

  10. That house in Meath has destroyed the system. 20 years in high courts and supreme court’s trying to stop the council’s order to demolish it. Why would a council try now when the legal system will take them on a insanely expensive ride. Legal system is broken and this is one of the results.

  11. It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission In practice

  12. Fair play to them, Eamonn Ryan would have you living in 5km city on lockdown if he had his way

  13. How is this described as ‘research’ – she didn’t even check what proportion of retentions were for minor stuff and what proportion was for massive stuff. Like, a fairly obvious question is – are all the permissions granted for minor things and all the rejections for major things. Its grand to describe it as something you pulled together over lunch, but the article describes it as being some big research investigation.

  14. Councils would rather people be homeless than live in a house that didn’t have the correct paperwork filled out.

  15. It’s an inevitable consequence of our braindead planning rules

  16. When I lived in Ballybrack there was some lad on the Killiney Hill Road who built an outdoor swimming pool without planning permission. Retention granted, of course.

  18. I mean why can’t we do mostly what we want with our own property anyway. As long as it really isn’t affecting anyone else. I’d say a lot of builds are not affecting neighbours.

  19. The Irish Planning system is a total joke. It seems to be run by people who failed in life and just want to spread their misery around. I know one guy who got turned down for planning permission because the planner thought the sort of square nicely designed chimney tops on his house were not in keeping with the local 1970s bungalow misery so turned him down requiring the standard bland chimney. It cost him a few hundred to get the drawings changed and then go through the process again. When he built it he put in the original chimney and 15 years later not one person has complained. Another person was looking for large PVC windows and was told he wouldn’t get it and needed small wooden ones to be “in keeping with the locality”. Coat him tens of thousands as basically they doubled the number of windows and the whole house exterior had to be redesigned. He has to varnish the windows every couple of years. He told me that the planner was related to the owners of a well known window company who specialised in wooden windows but I’ve never confirmed that so take it with a pinch of salt.

  20. Lots of laws, little enforcement – it’s always been the way in this country.

    We’re lucky Irish people are generally decent and we don’t need a lot of enforcement, however we’ve never figured out how to handle the sizeable minority who figure out they can do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it.

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