Cork firms face construction permit obstacles

Cork City performs well in terms of enforcing contracts and securing electricity connections for business but performs poorly in the time it takes to deal with building permits.

These are among the findings of a World Bank research in the ease of doing business in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, which shines a light on regional differences facing business.

The study is based on measuring five business areas, including starting a business, dealing with building permits, securing electricity supply, registering property, and enforcing contracts.

Cork is placed first of the five cities for enforcing contracts and is placed second in terms of securing an electricity supply for business.

It’s in third place behind Galway and Dublin in terms of the ease of starting a business, is scored fourth in terms of registering property, and is placed last among the group of five in terms of dealing with building permits.

“No single city dominates in all five areas measured. Cork, by far, is the city that most quickly enforces contracts,” according to the research.

Cork ranks high on getting electricity, as well, providing efficient electricity connections and reliable electricity supply.

"However, the city lags behind the other Irish cities in dealing with construction permits and registering property,” it says.

The World Bank hopes its research will help good practices to be applied in all regions.

“This can prompt discussions of regulatory reform across different levels of government, providing opportunities for local governments and agencies to learn from one another and resulting in local ownership and capacity building,” it says.

Limerick is scored second among the group of five cities in terms of dealing with building permits and registering property.

It is ranked third in terms of starting a business and securing electricity, and last for enforcing contracts.

Waterford is best of the five for dealing with building permits but is last in terms of the ease of registering property. Galway is first in two areas: starting a business and registering property but is in last place for securing electricity.

“It is no surprise that dealing with construction permits is one of the areas where local authorities have a high degree of autonomy in both implementing national regulations and setting development contribution fees,” says the World Bank study. “Unsurprisingly, it is one of the study areas with the greatest variation in performance across the five cities benchmarked.

Waterford, the most efficient city, scores 80.57 points on the ease of dealing with construction permits, well above the EU average, and would rank 23 in the standings globally.

“The time to deal with construction permits varies from about five months in Waterford to almost seven months in Cork.

Driving this variation, in part, is that it takes longer in some cities to obtain a water and sewerage connection and to have the pre-planning meeting with the local planning department required before filing for planning permission.

On the ease of securing electricity for business, “Dublin and Cork score highest in terms of the ease of getting electricity, with 84.21 points and 84.17 points, both above the EU average,” says the report.