COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 09, 2026

QUESTION NO. 38

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the Chief Executive would he issue a statement on the recent judgement by the Supreme Court that stated that a lack of resources does not excuse local authorities from their duty to prepare local area plans (framework plans) and to ask that a timeframe be given for any outstanding local area plans agreed in the County Development Plan?

REPLY:

In a case originally taken to the High Court by Protect East Meath against Meath County Council (MCC) for failing to commence a Local Area Plan, the High Court had concluded that, because there were exceptional circumstances it would not be appropriate for the Court to direct (order of mandamus) the Council to prepare a Local Area Plan (LAP) for East Meath. The High Court felt that to do so could have the effect of excluding preparation of LAPs for other parts of the County, and this would amount to the Court dictating the County’s settlement strategy.

Following this decision, the case was taken to the Supreme Court, the leave to appeal being granted on the basis that there was a failure to comply with a mandatory obligation under the planning legislation.

The Supreme Court issued its judgement this January 2026, in which it overturned the decision of the High Court.

The case between Protect East Meath Limited and Meath County Council centred on the fact that MCC had failed to commence the process of making a Local Area Plan (“LAP”) for an area in County Meath known as Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney (“East Meath”) pursuant to s. 19(1)(b) and (c) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (“the 2000 Act”).

Section 19(1)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 stated (it has now been superseded by the 2024 Planning Act):

(b) A local area plan shall be made, except for an area where a development plan of a former town council continues to have effect, in respect of an area which—

(i) is designated as a town in the most recent census of population, other than a town designated as a suburb or environs in that census,

(ii) has a population in excess of 5,000, and

(iii) is situated within the functional area of a planning authority which is a city and county council or a county council.

By way of context and the difference between Meath County Council’s approach to County Development Plans and South Dublin’s approach, until the 2024 Act commenced in December last year, Meath did not zone all of its land with the relevant accompanying objectives. Instead, they included objectives through the mechanism of Local Area Plans.

Section 19(1)(bb) of the 2000 Act was inserted by the 2010 Amendment Act and in effect allowed for the recognition of different approaches to zoning and objectives in County Development Plans whereby some counties, including all of the Dublin Local Authorities, zoned all of their land with associated objectives. Section 19(1)(bb) made clear that if there were already objectives made in the development plan then a local area plan was not required:

(bb) Notwithstanding paragraph (b), a local area plan shall be made in respect of a town with a population that exceeded 1,500 persons (in the census of population most recently published before a planning authority makes its

decision under subparagraph (i)) except where— 

(i) the planning authority decides to indicate objectives for the area of the town in its development plan under section 10(2), or

(ii) a local area plan has already been made in respect of the area of the town or objectives for that area have already been indicated in the development plan under section 10(2).

Section 10(2) of the 2000 Act listed the objectives which a development plan had to include.  This included objectives such as zoning, facilitation of infrastructure, protection of the environment, the provision of community services etc.  All of which are included as objectives in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028.

Furthermore, there are just five ‘towns’ – now defined as built up areas – designated in the 2022 Census relevant to South Dublin, these are:

Having regard to the above, the context for South Dublin is very different to that in Meath and the issues raised in the case taken against MCC.  For Meath, both the High Court and the Supreme Court were clear that there was a statutory obligation set out in the 2000 Planning Act which they had not met.

South Dublin has met its statutory obligations under section 10(2) and 19(1)(b) of the 2000 Act through the relevant zoning and other objectives contained in the County Development Plan.

Furthermore, the 2000 Act has been superseded by the commencement of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act 2024, within which Local Area Plans are no longer a plan type, having been replaced by Priority Area Plans and Urban Area Plans. Under the 2024 Act, the preparation of these new plan types can only commence after the adoption of the next County Development Plan.