COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE/FIRHOUSE/BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor B. Lawlor

Could I please get some information on the qualifying criteria for being a restaurant. Many pubs in our area are considering re-opening as restaurants and this would be very helpful for them.

REPLY:

In terms of planning and a potential change of use, the question is very broad and any consideration of what constitutes exempted development would need to be a site specific consideration as issues such as protected structures and planning history etc can restrict exempt development. The partial change of use of a public house to a restaurant may be considered ancillary to the primary public house use and not represent a material change of use and therefore, it may not be development. What is a material (i.e. significant) change of use depends on the circumstances of each situation. The Section 5 Exempted Declaration process enables any individual to get a written opinion from a Planning Authority within 4 weeks. Each section 5 declaration such as this is site specific.

Please note that there may be other non planning related licences and legislation that a pub owner needs to consider.