Archa covers all 31 Irish local authorities. The database contains over 2 million planning applications with data current to 24–48 hours. Connect at archa.ie/connect — works with Claude and ChatGPT, no technical setup required.
Towns get twice the scheme housing per capita of cities. Schemes within 500m of transport commence at 55%; schemes 1-2km away at 68%. The planning system allocates housing roughly where it's needed — then can't activate it where demand is tightest. The constraint map is the viability map.
Roughly 400 residential developers receive scheme permissions each year. Three-quarters are first-time grantees averaging 43 units. The viable band starts at 61. There is no financing bridge between them. Above 100 units, even Cairn Homes and the LDA hold uncommenced 2021 SHD grants. Ireland's housing market is boxed in.
Mid-size schemes of 61-100 units commence at 68-76% across houses, apartments and mixed alike. One-off houses: 4,000 per year at 70%. Everything in between and above is where the system breaks. The viable band hasn't changed since 2017. The penalty for missing it has.
216 portfolio developers hold 581 residential permissions and build where friction is lowest. 1,325 one-site developers hold one permission each and push through regardless. The same builder who delivers 87% in Westmeath delivers 35% in DLR. The difference is not capability. It is optionality.
Median planning permission decision in Ireland, 2025: 54 days. Fastest council Dublin City (46d). Slowest Roscommon (97d). Full 31-council leaderboard.
One-grant developers commence at 45%, six-grant at 58%. Five Irish state planning systems operate on the same land without referencing each other. The gap selects for scale.
Nine policy changes have rewritten Irish planning permissions mid-flight since 2019. A 2022 permission is now a different product from the one granted. Full catalogue.
85% of recycled RZLT sites change hands. Small developers sell under pressure, institutional buyers acquire at discount. The tax designed to unlock land is concentrating it.
218 extension of duration applications made headlines. At most one in twenty developers with expiring permissions even files one.
218 residential extension of duration applications in Q1 2026 — above the Covid peak. The acceleration started months earlier than anyone noticed.