Cork County planning permission: how often it is granted, and how long it takes
In the 12 months to 3 November 2026, Cork County decided 2,458 planning applications: 2,287 were granted (93%) and 171 were refused. Half of the decisions came within 66 days, and nine in ten within 229 days.
The figures
- Granted
- 93%about 1 in 14 refused 75%100%
- Median wait for a decision
- 66 days 45105 days
- Nine in ten decided within
- 229 days 110260 days
- Asked for more information
- Not recorded in the register
- Decisions in the 12 months
- 2,458grants and refusals; invalid, withdrawn and other outcomes left out
- One-off houses
- No decision
- Last application in the register
- 28 October 2026
Applications filed each year
- 20193,698
- 20203,795
- 20214,436
- 20223,700
- 20233,383
- 20243,265
- 20253,494
- 20262,744
The hatched bar is a part year: the register's last application for Cork County was received on 28 October 2026.
How Cork County compares with the other councils
Cork County ranks 8th of 30 councils on the share of applications granted, with 93%, close to the 90% of the median council. The wait is longer than at the median council: 66 days against 55, so 11 days more for a typical decision. Nine in ten decisions came within 229 days, against 209 days at the median council.
The register holds no further-information request dates for Cork County. How often the council asks applicants for more information is therefore unknown, which is not the same as never. None of Cork County's decisions in the 12 months is flagged as a one-off house in the register.
The number of applications has held steady: 3,698 in 2019 and 3,494 in 2025. The busiest full year was 2021, with 4,436 applications; 20 of the 31 councils peaked in that year.
What Cork County reported for 2025
No council reported more farm-building applications than Cork County: 248 of the 1,722 counted across Ireland. The return is large on almost every line. Industrial buildings (60) and government, health and education buildings (46) both rank 2nd nationally, and its 1,527 dwelling applications come 3rd, behind Meath and Dublin City. Social-use buildings (72) and commercial premises (109) also sit near the top of their tables. Only Dublin City declared more applications invalid than Cork County's 679. Refusals came to 171: 134 houses, 15 farm buildings, the highest farm-building refusal count in the returns, and 7 industrial projects. Despite the many farm buildings, the register flags none of the council's decisions in the 12 months as one-off houses, so this page cannot give a one-off house rate for Cork County.
These figures come from each council's annual return to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: applications received in 2025, decisions to refuse and other measures, published under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. An application that fits several categories is counted in each, so the categories do not add up to a number of applications, and the Department notes that councils may have read its guidance in slightly different ways.
Following an application in Cork County
In the national register, Cork County applications link to their files on planning.agileapplications.ie/corkcoco.
See all the councils compared ยท Do you need planning permission at all?