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Submission / Observation on a Planning Permission

Mandatory Declaration

Section 588 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 (as amended) requires all submissions or observations to planning applications made under Part 4 or 6 of the 2024 Act to be accompanied by a declaration stating that the submission or observation is not made for the purpose of—

(a) delaying the carrying out of any development or proposed development, or

(b) securing the payment of any consideration to, or the doing of any other thing for

the benefit of, any person.

This declaration can be downloaded by clicking here 

Note only individuals over 18 years of age can make a submission or observation or sign the declaration. Where an individual is younger than 18 years of age a legal guardian must make the submission on their behalf.

A submission cannot be accepted without this declaration.

Submission Form

The Planning and Development (Control of Development) Regulations 2026 includes a template form for making a submission or observation to a planning application. Regulation 17(5) of the Planning and Development (Control of Development) Regulations 2026 requires submissions to be structured as per this template. This form can be accessed by clicking here 

This template form includes the following guidance notes when making a submission or observation:

Submissions or observations shall:

1.Be concise - where word count exceeds 1000 words, a short executive summary of no more than 300 words shall be included at the start of the submission or observation.

2.Be limited to the relevant facts relating to the development or proposed development.

3.Not include hyperlinks, QR codes, embedded images or web addresses as these are a security risk.

4.Not include material which the individual making the submission or observation does not hold the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder for any material submitted. The person making the submission holds responsibility where intellectual property rights are breached.

5.Not include appendices or attachments without permission of the copyright holder. The person making the submission holds responsibility where intellectual property rights are breached.

6.Not include information which is classified as a special category data under Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). More information is available at the Data Protection Commission https://www.dataprotection.ie/en

7.Not include false accusations or material which is libellous.

Failure to comply with the mandatory format requirements shall invalidate the submission or observation.

Points to Note

  • Fee is €20.
  • All submissions/observations are published on our website
    You must submit your submission/ observation within 5 weeks of the application registered date (day one being the date the application is received and registered).  You can withdraw your submission/observation by letter within the same 5 week period, however, your letter of withdrawal along with your submission/observation will remain on file.  All valid documents we receive are available to view on our website and the public file.
  • Once a decision has been made on the application, you will be informed within 3 working days

DEFAMATION NOTICE

Those making submissions/observations to Louth County Council in respect of any planning application should be aware that comments involving allegations of any kind against a named or otherwise identifiable person or organisation may be viewed as defamatory by the subject of the comments. Those making submissions/ observations, which could be viewed as defamatory, may be sued directly for any defamatory allegations in a submission and should avoid making such allegations.

Please be advised that submissions/observations made to the Council are published to the Council’s website for public inspection in accordance with the requirements of the Planning & Development Act 2024 (as amended) and the Planning & Development (Control of Development) Regulations 2026.  Should the content of the submission/observation be considered potentially defamatory/libellous, the submission/observation shall be held confidentially and only planning matters in the submission/observation shall be considered by the Planning Authority in its determination of the planning application.

The Council shall only make such redactions to submissions made to it in respect of any planning application, as are necessary to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulations 679/2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please note that, in the event of any potentially defamatory allegation giving rise to legal action against it, the Council may seek indemnity from the person making the allegation. It should be understood that the Council is only concerned with planning issues relevant to the application in question and not comments that are not relevant to its deliberations in making a planning decision.

Not Happy with the Decision!

If you wish to appeal a decision of Louth County Council on a planning application, the appeal is made directly to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP), the national independent statutory body for determining planning appeals.

For the definitive and most up‑to‑date guidance (who can appeal, time limits, fees, and how to submit, including online), please see further details  Here