What are the land consent challenges in Ireland for infrastructure projects over the next five years?

Jonathan Speers, Director at Dalcour Maclaren, discusses the various land consent challenges facing Irish infrastructure projects in the short and mid-term, and how DM is helping clients overcome them. 

The process of gaining land consent for infrastructure projects, regardless of where you are, is never easy. It’s a multi-stage process, and within that, there’s always scope for delays and for things to go wrong. 

In Ireland, delays in planning processes, aligning local regulations with national goals and securing land from multiple landowners are all challenges that can significantly increase project costs and timelines. 

However, despite the obvious challenges, there are still tremendous opportunities for Irish infrastructure providers. Increased Government support means operators are well placed to secure the funds they need for essential infrastructure projects. And with the right land consent expertise, utility providers can deliver lasting value to the communities they serve.

The key Irish land consent challenges over the short- and mid-term

Despite a pledge to invest €112bn in infrastructure projects over the next five years, several existing and emerging challenges threaten to derail Ireland’s ambitious plans. 

Compulsory Purchase Order delays and complexity

Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) are the mechanism used by public bodies and utility providers to acquire land, property or infrastructure. Although CPOs can force the sale of property to clear the way for infrastructure projects, long lead times of 18 to 36 months often cause significant project delays. And those delays can be made worse where objections or valuation disputes arise. 

New legislation is being introduced to streamline the process. The Compulsory Purchase Order Bill 2025 aims to simplify the roughly 70 statutes that currently govern state acquisition of land. They are outdated and are a common source of frustration for the various stakeholders. 

The new bill will entitle landowners to an advance payment based on the market value of their land. It will also establish clear deadlines for various stages of the CPO process and simplify current procedures. 

The next five years

Although the new legislation is widely welcomed, I think it will bring some transitional complexity. There may be increased resistance if landowners feel the reforms reduce their rights. And we could see some valuation tribunal bottlenecks if more disputes are pushed into the compensation phase. 

Increase in legal challenges 

Over the past year, there has been a 20% increase in judicial review challenges. Delays of two to four years are common in cases that go to the High Court or Court of Appeal. And clearly, that’s a significant hurdle to the timely completion of major infrastructure projects. 

The increase in challenges results, in part, from greater awareness among the public of their environmental rights under EU law. Case law is making it easier for NGOs and community groups to establish their standing. And errors and delays in planning decisions are giving groups more opportunities to raise a challenge.  

The next five years

Planning law reforms should reduce the number of judicial challenges over time. However, in the short term, projects with significant environmental footprints continue to be contentious. That will lead to continued challenges from interest groups to test the legislation. 

Overly complex planning legislation

Delays in obtaining planning permission, navigating environmental regulations and handling legal challenges are major hurdles for developers. The Planning and Development Act 2024 seeks to consolidate and simplify Ireland’s patchwork of amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2020. 

However, with more than 900 pages and multiple commencement dates, it’s still a complex piece of legislation. Initially, it may prove to be difficult to interpret and implement in practice. It could also cause uncertainty about timeframes and compliance obligations. 

The next five years

Over the mid-term, there will continue to be complexity in implementing the new act. That could lead to procedural errors and an increase in judicial reviews and appeals. Increased pressure on the system could also lead to capacity constraints at national and local levels, potentially increasing reliance on private consultants for planning issues.

Zoning and land-use conflicts

There are also issues around land use and zoning, with long-life development plans made under 10-year cycles failing to match today’s infrastructure priorities. 

A common example is infrastructure routes that cross land parcels with different zoning and local authority jurisdictions. That can make negotiating uniform consent a significant bottleneck.  

In growing cities, rezoning for housing can also encroach on established infrastructure corridors. That can then lead to costly and contentious rerouting or reacquisition issues. 

The next five years

There is a risk of increasing litigation if zoning changes are perceived to benefit particular projects. Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSES) and new national statements will also carry more legal weight. In practice, that could make it more difficult to argue for exceptions based on local needs or unique circumstances. As a result, consent for conflicting infrastructure could become more challenging to obtain. 

Dalcour Maclaren’s role in overcoming land consent challenges

At DM, we act as a specialist bridge between Irish infrastructure developers, landowners, regulators and communities. Our role is to move the project from concept to consent without getting stuck in legal, planning and stakeholder deadlock.

Critical to that process is the vast trove of land-use data we hold. Our clients often possess their own data, but their systems and collection methods are often outdated. The way they maintain and store the data can also be unsuitable for large-scale consent projects.

There’s so much data involved in these projects that it can be overwhelming. At DM, we hold data about land ownership, land use and the attributes of the land. However, we also know precisely what’s on the ground and where. 

That includes everything from culverts and drainage to access routes and cropping rotations. That knowledge enables us to engage the landowner appropriately and advise clients on the design of their projects and their works programme. 

Over the past 23 years, we have built up the systems, processes and knowledge to understand and deliver that data at volume and pace. We enable our clients to visualise that data clearly, with high levels of integrity. That, combined with our technical, legal and stakeholder expertise, enables infrastructure projects to bypass land-use hurdles that could otherwise derail timelines and budgets.

The DM difference

It’s not just data visibility and integrity that make a difference to our clients. We also possess the faculties, skill sets and experience to deliver a seamless land consenting process under one roof. 

We bring together environmental insight, land negotiations, stakeholder engagement and project management without the client needing to coordinate separate consultants. By distilling that expertise and knowledge into one combined unit, we deliver a consenting process that’s faster, more cost-effective and more resilient to regulatory challenges. 

Advising across multiple client interfaces, we deliver a one-team approach with one unified voice to remove the layers and complexities. And every discipline is aligned behind the same objectives and timelines for consistency of advice. That ensures the client receives a straightforward, transparent process - while we work behind the scenes to make the complex simple.

The 137km-long North-South interconnector is an excellent example. Running between Ireland and Northern Ireland, we have been working across two jurisdictions to secure the relevant land contents while successfully navigating the complexity and risk.