There was a 27% drop in the number of one-off houses that secured planning permission in 2023 compared to a year earlier according to a new report published today (Thursday, March 14) by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Latest figures show there were a total of 5,032 one-off houses granted planning permission in 2023 compared to 6,924 in 2022.
According to the CSO overall there was an increase of almost 21% in the total number of dwelling units approved in 2023 which was up from 34,177 units a year earlier.
The latest figures show that a total of 19,738 new houses were granted planning permission in 2023.
Dublin had the highest proportion of houses granted planning permission – 4,776 – followed by Cork which secured the green light for 2,676 houses and Meath where 1,288 received planning permission.
But Leitrim had the lowest proportion with just 50 houses granted planning permission, followed by Roscommon with 152 houses and Monaghan with 169 houses.
One-off houses
According to Senator Victor Boyhan, who is a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, typically in recent years it has been “very challenging” to secure planning permission to build a house in rural Ireland.
The senator believes that while new housing guidelines should “balance environmental and social concerns” they should also be “appropriate to the needs of existing rural communities and island communities”.
According to Senator Boyhan there are strong “economic and social benefits” in facilitating families to build a home close to an aging population in rural areas.
He has called on the government to acknowledge that there is a “genuine need” for some people to live and work on the family or on family lands.
Guidelines for Planning Authorities published by the Department of Housing, laid before the Oireachtas earlier this year, advised that “planning authorities should look to promote and support housing that would offer an alternative to persons who might otherwise construct rural one-off housing in the surrounding countryside in rural towns and villages”.
Agriculture buildings
Meanwhile the latest CSO report on planning permissions also outlines that 242 buildings for agriculture were granted planning permission in quarter four 2023.
The majority of these buildings were located in southern regions.
