Data sources & methodology
PlanningBrief is a source-linked discovery layer. It does not replace the official register, tender notice, appeal file, BCMS record or HSA guidance.
Source families
| Source | How it is used |
|---|---|
| Planning registers and ArcGIS feeds | Recent Irish planning applications are normalised into lead pages with planning authority, application reference, public description, dates, status, county and source links. |
| ACP appeal data | An Coimisiun Pleanala case records are used to identify appeal, refusal and decision-risk signals, and to cross-link related planning records where references align. |
| TED and eTenders/open procurement data | Construction notices and awards are grouped as tender intelligence, with current/open notices separated from awarded or historical context. |
| BCMS and commencement sources | Commencement records are treated as building-control context and labelled for freshness. Where a detailed source is historical, the page says so rather than implying a current lead. |
| Official HSA, gov.ie and local public resources | Forms, safety topics, calculators and local signals link readers back to official source pages for verification. |
Current data-to dates
| Source | Rows | Data to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning applications | 14906 | 2026-06-22 | Latest ETL 2026-06-22; direct file links vary by council. |
| Owner-supplied commencements | 108784 | 2026-06-29 | Used as current going-to-site signal; private home addresses and personal owner details are suppressed. |
| Historical BCMS commencements | 44862 | 2026-07-09 | Archive/reference context only; not presented as current starting-soon data. |
| An Coimisiun Pleanala appeals | 26095 | 2026-06-08 | Reference matching is conservative; unmatched cases stay on the appeals page without forcing a lead link. |
| OGP/eTenders awarded context | 120 | 2026-01-16 | Current/open notices are separated from awarded or historical records. |
| TED awarded contracts | 80 | 2026-06-19 | Current/open notices are separated from awarded or historical records. |
| TED current construction tenders | 787 | 2026-06-19 | Current/open notices are separated from awarded or historical records. |
| GZT current development-plan zones | 82656 | 2026-05-14 | Coordinate/polygon enrichment only; not a legal zoning certificate. |
Update frequency and limitations
| Dataset | Update rhythm | Known limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Planning applications | Refreshed by the PlanningBrief pipeline from public planning feeds. | Council fields vary. Applicant and agent names depend on source availability and privacy/suppression rules. |
| Owner-supplied commencements | Imported when a fresh owner export is supplied; pages show the latest commencement date available. | Private home addresses and personal owner details are suppressed from public output. Treat as going-to-site signal, not a legal certificate. |
| An Coimisiun Pleanala appeals | Imported from public case data during the data refresh process. | Reference matching is conservative; some appeals cannot be linked to a local-authority lead if references differ. |
| TED and eTenders | Current TED notices are separated from awarded or historical OGP/eTenders context. | CPV filtering is reviewed to avoid false positives, but tender documents remain the source of truth. |
| GZT zoning | Uses current development-plan resources where available. | Zoning matches are coordinate/polygon hints and must not be treated as planning advice or a legal zoning certificate. |
| Guides, forms and calculators | Reviewed as content pages; official links are kept visible for verification. | These resources support workflow triage only. Official bodies and competent professionals remain authoritative. |
PlanningBrief classifies records with deterministic rules that look at public descriptions, application type, dates, unit counts, floor area, stage and keyword signals. The output is used to group pages such as apartment schemes, housing estates, commercial projects, H&S triggers and supplier opportunities.
Pages show last-updated and data-to context where available. Historical sources are labelled as historical; current/open tender notices are kept separate from awards and old datasets.
Every commercial or planning decision should be checked against the official source. PlanningBrief is for discovery, triage and cross-linking, not legal, procurement, planning or safety advice.
GDPR transparency
PlanningBrief republishes limited public-register fields for construction, planning, safety and local-business readers. The site relies on legitimate interest for this public-register discovery layer and balances that interest with source links, minimisation, suppression controls and a privacy removal route.
The site does not render private home addresses, owner personal data, private phone numbers or private email addresses. Where a source contains sensitive or stale personal context, PlanningBrief suppresses or labels it rather than turning it into a sales page.
Use the privacy notice for removal requests, and the contact page for corrections or source-quality questions.