The changes are expected to come into effect next month with a spokesperson for Minister of State at the Department of Housing, John Cummins, telling RTE that the changes would “provide clarity and cut red tape”. The changes are also expected to apply to infrastructure serving housing developments.

The current process under the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires a mandatory EIA for the construction of more than 500 units or where below that threshold where it is determined that “the proposed development is likely to have a significant impact on the environment”.

The new system, under the Planning and Development Act 2024, would see no EIA required for up to 250 units, basic screening for up to 750 units and full screening only required for 750 units or more. Infrastructure projects serving less than 10,000 people would also be exempt.

A government source told RTE that the changes would be “saving time and money for prospective housing projects”.

Construction industry figures welcome the changes with Sean O’Driscoll, independent member of the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, referring, at the Construction Industry Federation’s Annual conference, to the EIA “industry” and citing figures showing Ireland’s 257 EIAs in 2022 compared to Germany’s 218 and Denmark’s eight. He added: “There is a correlation between delivering infrastructure and excessive environmental legislation”.

Ireland, however, is not renowned for its enforcement of environmental regulation with the European Commission having referred Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union in June for failing to comply with the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive regarding peat cutting projects.

A report of the European Environment Agency in 2025 found the state of nature in Ireland “very poor” with “85 per cent of Ireland’s protected habitats and almost one third of protected species of flora and fauna having an unfavourable status. Over half of native plant species are in decline and more than 50 bird species are of high conservation concern.” The Agency feels that significant measures are needed to address declines.

Referring to the move to remove the need for EIAs Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin told RTE it gives him a sense of “déjà vu of the days of light touch regulation”.