Two thirds of large-scale residential developments with planning fail to commence

Applications were made for 63,000 units from 2022 to 2025 but just 18,500 have started construction, says report

Eoin McEnery, head of Mitchell McDermott’s construction consultants Limerick office; Anthony McDermott, director and co-founder of Mitchell McDermott; Ronan Tynan, director Mitchell McDermott, and Paul Mitchell director and co-Founder of Mitchell McDermott. Mitchell McDermott launched its Annual Construction Sector Report 2026 on Thursday. Picture: Keith Wiseman

Just 30% of large-scale residential developments with planning have started construction over the last four years, a new report states.

Applications were made for 63,000 units in the period 2022 to 2025 but just 18,500 (30%) have started construction. The authors of the report say the high attrition rate of large-scale residential development (LRDs) schemes undermines Ireland’s ability to scale up new housing output.