Cork City Council inspected less than 10% of new buildings last year, way below minimum requirements

Cork City Council had the second lowest inspection rate of new buildings in Ireland. Picture: Denis Minihane

Cork City Council inspected less than 10% of new buildings last year, considerably below minimum levels set by the Government.

Cork City was one of just two local authorities that did not meet the minimum 12-15% inspection requirements contained in the Government’s Code of Practice for Inspecting and Certifying Buildings and Works.

Just 9.52% of new buildings were inspected in Cork City compared to 82.59% in Dublin City in 2025, according to a report from an oversight body.

A Cork City Council spokesperson told the Irish Examiner the council “is very aware of our responsibilities to inspect new buildings and take this responsibility very seriously".

“Over the past decade, Cork City has experienced unprecedented levels of development, which has raised challenges with regards to the allocation of resources to different tasks associated with new buildings,” they said.

The spokesperson added a risk-based inspection regime was used to maximise staffing resources, which it hoped to increase.

The report from the National Oversight and Audit Committee (NOAC) shows Cork City saw the highest number of new building notifications last year, at 1,554, followed by Cork county, where 1,379 new buildings were notified.

However, Cork County Council inspected 559 (nearly 40.5%) of new buildings, while Cork City managed just 148, and had the second lowest inspection rate in Ireland.

Cork City’s rate improved from 2024 when it was just 6.8%, but there were considerably more new building notifications, at 4,444, meaning the actual number of inspections more than halved in 12 months.

By contrast, Cork county, which also had a high number of new buildings in 2024, at 3,928, missed the minimum inspection requirements when it inspected just 10.9% of all new buildings, but the amount of inspections it carried out increased from 428.

The decrease in new buildings notified to local authorities between 2024 and 2025 is seen across the board, with a 70% decrease recorded, which Cork County Council put down to a planning development charges waiver introduced by the government, which led to developers frontloading commencements in 2024.

The NOAC report, which assesses local authorities under a variety of metrics, also looked at inspections of private rented accommodation carried out by local authorities to ensure it meets the required minimum standards prescribed in national legislation.

The Government sets an annual target for the inspection of 25% of all private residential tenancies.

NOAC found Cork City Council inspected 8,393 rental properties, about 34% of the total in the area, the fifth highest inspection rate in Ireland.

Meanwhile, Cork county inspected 2,532 privately rented dwellings, just 18% of its total.

Some 89% of inspected properties in Cork City and 90% in Cork county were not compliant, meaning nearly 10,000 rental properties in Cork were below regulation standards.

Cork City conducted 6,097 follow-up re-inspections of properties found not compliant during the year, while Cork county did just 276.