Key Contacts: Alice Whittaker – Partner | Alison Hardiman – Consultant | Rachel Minch – Partner | Leonora Mullett – Partner| Niall Donnelly – Partner | Maeve Delargy – Senior Associate |
25. 45. 1. The three most important numbers in the RED III Planning Regulations.
- 25 September 2025 – the date from which the new Site and Newspaper Notice wording must be used.
- 45 days – the period within which the planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) must carry out a “completeness check” and issue a Notice, which either confirms completeness, or deems the application incomplete.
- 1 October 2025 – the date from which the new mandatory EIA Scoping requirement will apply.
The RED III Planning Regulations currently comprise a pair of Statutory Instruments that partly transpose the recast Renewable Energy Directive (“RED III”) – Directive (EU) 2023/2413, amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001. On 6 August 2025, S.I. 274 of 2025 – European Union (Planning and Development) (Renewable Energy) Regulations 2025 was made, with little warning or fanfare, and without appropriate transitional provisions. These Regulations also contained typos. An amending regulation was made subsequently on 26 August 2025, S.I. 426 of 2025 – European Union (Planning and Development) (Renewable Energy) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 in an effort to correct some of these issues.
25 September 2025
From 25 September 2025:
- Newspaper Notice. New prescribed wording shall inform the public that submissions or observations can be made within 5 weeks or, in the case of applications for small-scale solar energy equipment or small-scale non-ground source heat pump, within 2 weeks.
- Site Notice. For applications covered by RED III, a new prescribed Form No. 23 shall be used. For other general development, Form No. 1 shall continue to be used.
Newspaper and Site Notices used prior to 25 September 2025 shall be deemed valid if they would have complied with Article 18 and 19 of the Planning Regulations 2001 had S.I. 274 of 2025 not been made.
45 days
The process of validating planning applications shall continue, however in addition to validating receipt of an application, planning authorities and ACP shall undertake a further “completeness check” of relevant applications within 45 days of validated receipt of the application. This new “completeness check” process shall apply to all relevant applications from 6 August 2025. Relevant applications for which a completeness check is required are those for:
- Repowering development
- Renewable energy development
- Relevant solar energy development
- Ground source heat pumps
- Small-scale solar development
Provided the application is deemed complete, the initial planning decision must be made within a specified timeframe. An incomplete application is to be returned with an indication of what needs to be done to resubmit a complete application with no undue delay.
Departmental Circular Number CEPP 1/2025 provides guidance to planning authorities on how to run the completeness check and this should be carefully reviewed before undertaking pre-application consultation and before submitting an application covered by the RED III Planning Regulations.
1 October 2025
From 1 October 2025, relevant applications shall require a mandatory pre-application EIA Scoping Opinion. This is a formal Opinion of the planning authority or ACP on the scope and level of detail of information to be included in an EIA Report.
Wednesday 30 September 2025 is the last date on which a relevant application may be submitted without an EIA Scoping Opinion. An EIA Scoping Opinion is required for a relevant application made from 1 October 2025, even if the pre-application consultation procedure has formally closed prior to that date.
An EIA Scoping Opinion is required for a “renewable energy development”, and a “repowering development”, both as defined in the RED III Planning Regulations. An EIA Screening determination may be required as a first step in determining whether an EIA Scoping Opinion is required for a below-threshold class of project.
Once an EIA Scoping Opinion is provided, the concept is that the planning authority /ACP shall not subsequently (and unforeseeably) extend the scope or level of detail required to be included in the EIAR. This concept is not new. It was first debated by the European Commission and European Parliament in 2012 in the context of revisions that were eventually made to the EIA Directive in 2014. It was viewed as a way to increase certainty for developers, to improve the quality of EIA Reports, and to streamline and ultimately shorten decision-making timeframes.
However, it is important to note that the planning authority / ACP retain the power to request further information from applicants, and remain responsible for ensuring that the EIA determination on an application conforms to all EIA Directive requirements, and relevant domestic planning law requirements. This includes an obligation to take due account of the submissions and observations of the public and prescribed bodies on the application.
While Departmental Circular Number CEPP 1/2025 emphasised the heightened importance of the pre-application stage, including pre-application consultation with prescribed bodies, the RED III Planning Regulations do not create any additional responsibilities for prescribed bodies to actively engage with or support the applicant at the pre-application stage. Critically important bodies such as the NPWS have no greater responsibility under the RED III Planning Regulations to engage with developers or planning authorities on the EIA Scoping Opinion than they had prior to the making of the Regulations.
In summary:
- From 25 September 2025, Form No.23 Site Notice and prescribed wording for Newspaper Notice for applications covered by RED III.
- 45-day “completeness check” to run from the date of validated receipt of a relevant application.
- From 1 October 2025, mandatory EIA Scoping Opinion is required for certain applications. Pre-application engagement with prescribed bodies and the public will gain greater significance under this new system.
