The Spark #030: Planning Permissions Jump 60 Per Cent But 41,000 Dublin Apartments Sit Idle
Shamrock Electrical
Welcome to Issue #30, and thanks for sticking with us for thirty weeks. The planning figures we promised you last week landed, and they are the best in nearly five years: permissions up 60 per cent, apartments up 107 per cent. Before anyone reorders the van, the same week brought the figure that matters more, which is how many of those approved apartments have a single cable pulled in them. We also have the CIF conference happening in Croke Park as you read this, the network charge that hits every bill next Thursday, and downlights in the spotlight as the work moves back indoors.
Get The Spark delivered to your inbox every Wednesday morning:
📰 Industry News
Planning Permissions Jump 60 Per Cent, But 41,000 Dublin Apartments Still Have No Shovel in the Ground
The CSO's Q2 figures, out last Thursday, are the strongest in nearly five years. Planning permission was granted for 11,912 homes in April to June, up 60 per cent on the same quarter last year and the best since the end of 2021. Apartments did the heavy lifting, more than doubling to 5,637 units, while houses rose 33 per cent to 6,275. In Dublin's four local authority areas permissions rose 78.5 per cent, with apartments up 95.6 per cent to 2,412 units. Cork saw apartment permissions more than quadruple. Minister for Housing James Browne called it "a robust performance in new home starts."
Now the other half. The Banking and Payments Federation's housing monitor, published the same day, points out that of the 80,285 residential units already permitted across Dublin, fewer than 42 per cent have actually commenced, and more than 41,000 approved apartments in Dublin have not been started at all. BPFI chief economist Ali Ugur said the backlog "points to growing challenges around project viability, infrastructure provision, and construction capacity." The Central Bank reckons it now takes twice as long to build a home as it did a decade ago, with roughly four years between a planning application going in and anyone moving in.
What it means for you: Permission granted is not work on site, and a permission granted this summer is 2029 or 2030 work at current speeds. The number worth watching instead is commencements, and those are genuinely moving: 3,880 homes started in August alone, up 231 per cent year on year, with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown accounting for 1,053 of them in a single month, then Dublin City on 411 and Fingal on 403. If you want first fix work inside the M50 this winter, that is where it is starting. Apartment schemes are also repeatable work: one distribution board arrangement, one lighting spec, one containment detail, priced once and repeated fifty times. Get your pricing sharp on the unit, not the block.
CIF Conference Today: Data Centres Booming, Housing a "Blip", 100,000 Workers Short
The Construction Industry Federation's annual conference is running in Croke Park this morning under the title "Ready to deliver: Ireland's decade of construction", and the survey it published alongside is a useful snapshot of where the money actually is. Two thirds of exporting firms grew their turnover in the last quarter, driven by data centres, pharmaceutical facilities and infrastructure work. Residential projects in the pipeline showed a net decline, which CIF chief executive Andrew Brownlee called a "blip" rather than a downturn. On data centres he said the sector has "a base of companies, highly specialised, who are ready to go."
Two numbers jump out for smaller firms. Eighty per cent still expect raw material costs to rise further, and 40 per cent of construction firms did no public sector work at all, citing low margins and administrative burden. Against that, the industry reckons it needs about 100,000 additional workers by 2030, having already added 20,500 jobs this year to push construction employment above 190,000.
What it means for you: The specialised end of the market is where the growth is, and data centre and pharma work pays accordingly. It also demands a level of paperwork, certification and safety documentation that keeps most small firms out, which is exactly what this week's tip is about. If you have looked at a public tender and walked away, you are in the 40 per cent, and that is a decision worth revisiting once the folder is in order.
⚖️ Watch List: Network Charges Next Thursday, the Budget in a Fortnight, Copper Back Up
Network charges, October 1st. Next Thursday every electricity bill in the country goes up by roughly €41.25 a year, about €3.44 a month, regardless of supplier. The CRU approved an 18.4 per cent increase in distribution revenues and 8.1 per cent in transmission to fund network investment, trimmed by €138 million from what the network companies asked for, and partly offset by a 66 per cent cut in the PSO levy. Coming on top of every supplier's own increase, October is the month your customers open a noticeably worse bill.
Budget 2027, two weeks today. The Government has committed to doing something on home heating oil, which is running around €825 per 500 litres and up roughly 15 per cent in the last month alone. The mechanism is still undecided between cutting the carbon tax on kerosene and bringing its 13.5 per cent VAT into line with the 9 per cent on gas. Separately, the Tánaiste said on Tuesday that extending the current fuel excise cuts beyond November looks "sensible" and "prudent" to him, which would keep 27 cent a litre off petrol and 32 cent off diesel through the winter. Nothing is decided on either. There is also talk of incentives for sustainable energy technologies, which is the line to watch if you quote solar, heat pumps or electric heating.
Copper. Last week's breather is over. Copper has risen for four or five sessions running and is now up around 42 per cent on the year, with Chinese demand indicators at their strongest since 2022. Cable prices will not be softening. Cable stays in-store only: ring 01 401 9907 for today's trade price before you commit a quote.
And still nothing. The independent review of the Phase 4 and 6 apprentice exam papers is now about eight weeks past its end-of-July deadline with nothing published. Your apprentices deserve better than silence.
🌿 The Work Moves Indoors
The clocks go back a month from Sunday, and the trade's calendar turns with them. The outdoor work that has filled the van since spring is down to its last few dry weeks, and the enquiries shift to the inside of the house: the kitchen that never got finished, the sitting room lighting that was "grand" in June and gloomy in October, the attic conversion someone wants ready for Christmas.
Three things worth doing in the next fortnight:
- Finish the outdoor book now. Anything needing a trench, a ladder or a dry gable wall should be done in the next three weeks, not in November drizzle. Ring the customers who have been sitting on outdoor quotes since August and give them a deadline.
- Get the October compliance work booked. Emergency lighting tests, periodic inspections for landlords and commercial clients, and anything that needs doing before the Christmas shutdown. Diaries fill fast from mid-October.
- Change the conversation to light. From here to Christmas, every domestic customer notices their house is dark. That is the easiest time of year to sell a proper lighting upgrade, and the shortest route to it is a downlight scheme that actually suits the room.
🔦 Product Spotlight: LED Downlights
As the work heads indoors, our LED downlights range takes the spotlight, and one of our customers beat us to it: the newest review on our Trustpilot page this week is from a man who came in for downlights and went home happy. Worth knowing when you are specifying:
- Warm white sells the room. 3000K has overtaken 4000K as the default for domestic living spaces. Show a customer the same kitchen at both temperatures and they pick warm nearly every time. Put the colour temperature in writing on the quote so there are no surprises at handover.
- Fire-rated as standard, IP-rated where it matters. Fire-rated fittings for any ceiling with a habitable room above, and the correct IP rating for bathroom zones. Both are cheap insurance against an expensive argument.
- Dimmable, and specify the dimmer. Most callbacks on downlight jobs are flicker, and most flicker is a mismatched dimmer rather than a bad fitting. Ask us which dimmer suits the driver before you leave the counter.
Pair them with our ceiling lights for hallways and bedrooms, bathroom lights for the IP-rated side of the job, and see the full lighting range for everything else in the schedule.
Trade pricing: Website prices are retail. On a full-house downlight schedule or an apartment block's worth, ring the counter on 01 401 9907 or email sales@shamrockelectrical.ie with the list and we'll price it properly. Consumer units, RCBOs, cable and switchgear remain available in-store at Greenogue.
💡 Contractor Tip of the Week: The Paperwork Folder That Gets You on Bigger Sites
Data centre, pharma and public work is where the margin is, and the thing that keeps most good small firms out is not skill, it is documentation. Main contractors will not even send you the tender without it. Six things to have ready, scanned and in one folder:
- A safety statement with your name on it. Not a template with someone else's company still in the header. It needs to describe your actual work, your actual hazards and your actual people, and it needs a review date that has not passed.
- Generic RAMS you can adapt in ten minutes. Build them once for the jobs you do most: consumer unit change, containment install, cable pulling, working at height, isolation and lock-off. Then each new site is an edit, not a weekend.
- Insurance certs, in date, with the right limits. Public liability and employers liability, and check the limits the main contractor specifies before you quote. Many sites want €6.5 million public liability, and finding that out after you win the job is a bad day.
- Safe Electric registration and your tickets in one place. Registration cert, Safe Pass cards with expiry dates, manual handling, first aid, MEWP and any specialist tickets. Keep a spreadsheet of expiry dates and renew a month early.
- Calibration certificates for your test gear. Every instrument you certify with, calibrated annually, cert scanned. This is the one that catches people out on an audit.
- A one-page company profile. What you do, the size of your crew, three jobs you have done that resemble the one being tendered, and your references. Most small firms have never written this, and it is often what gets you onto the list in the first place.
Put all of it in one cloud folder, keep it current, and you can answer a prequalification request the same day it arrives. That speed alone wins work.
📅 Dates to Know
- Thursday October 1st: Electricity network charges up around €41.25 a year on every bill.
- Tuesday October 6th: Budget 2027. Watch for heating oil and the excise decision.
- Sunday October 25th: Clocks go back. Security lighting season proper.
- From November: Fuel excise restoration is scheduled to begin, though the Tánaiste has signalled an extension of the cuts is under consideration.
- End of February 2027: Final scheduled excise restoration step.
- Every Wednesday: The Spark lands in your inbox.
That's it for Issue 30. Chase the outdoor quotes before the weather turns, get the paperwork folder built while the evenings are quiet, and ring us for a cable price before you sign anything. Trade counter is open Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm.
The Shamrock Electrical Team
Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
01 401 9907 | sales@shamrockelectrical.ie
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What our customers are saying
"Excellent to deal with.bought downlights which was of great quality and reasonable price"
Des, reviewing Shamrock on Trustpilot, September 2026
Sorted out on a job recently? Add your voice. A review takes under a minute and an honest word from the trade counts for more than any advert.
📬 Subscribe to The Spark
The Spark goes out every Wednesday morning to electrical contractors across Ireland. Free, no spam, unsubscribe any time.
📖 Previous Issues
- Issue 029: Every supplier has now hiked, the Budget eyes heating oil, electric radiators
- Issue 028: SSE hikes 9 per cent, copper sets records, and the new 50m LED site lighting reel
- Issue 027: The excise reprieve is signed, the summer that cooked Irish homes, emergency lighting
- Issue 026: September's fuel excise hikes scrapped, Dublin's 80,000 home pipeline, wall lanterns
About Shamrock Electrical Supplies
Shamrock Electrical Supplies is an electrical wholesaler and retailer based in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. We supply professional electrical contractors and homeowners across Ireland.
Contractors who open a trade account get competitive trade pricing, reliable stock availability, and a team that knows what they are talking about.
Find Us
Shamrock Electrical Supplies
Unit 22, Block 613, Jordanstown Road
Greenogue Business Park
Rathcoole, Co. Dublin, D24 TX98
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 7am to 5pm
Saturday: 9am to 1pm
Sunday: Closed
Get in Touch
📞 01 401 9907
✉️ sales@shamrockelectrical.ie
🌐 shamrockelectrical.ie
Open a Trade Account and Get 10% Off Your First Order