Just over 6 months ago, on 6 August 2025 the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage made the RED III Regulations (SI 274 of 2025) (the “RED III Regulations”) to transpose in part the Renewable Energy Directive III (“RED III”) into Irish law. Among other things, the RED III Regulations aim to simplify and accelerate permitting processes for renewable energy projects.
They are complex and have already been amended twice since their publication (SI 426/2025 and SI 435/2025). The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has also already issued five planning circulars providing guidance to planning authorities in relation to the RED III Regulations[1], the most recent being CEPP 1/2026 published on 16 January 2026. Other guidance documents include An Coimisiún Pleanála’s RED III guides for planning authorities and prospective applicants, and the Department’s RED III Further Information document.
The Timing of Implementation
The provisions of RED III were required to be transposed into Irish law by 1 July 2024. This deadline was not met. Accordingly, on 17 July 2025, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Ireland regarding its failure to fully transpose the provisions of RED III. Ireland was given two months to respond and take the necessary measures to complete the transposition, with the Commission warning that it “may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union with a request to impose financial sanctions.” To avoid this, Ireland brought in the RED III Regulations in August 2025.
On 22 January 2026, the CJEU imposed significant financial penalties on Bulgaria for its failure to implement the previous version of the Renewable Energy Directive (Case C-206/23). The implementation of the RED III Regulations in August likely spared Ireland from similar sanctions.
The Changes
The changes brought about by the RED III Regulations include:
- New definitions in the Planning and Development Act 2000 and Planning and Development Regulations 2001;
- New Site Notice and newspaper notice;
- Mandatory EIA Scoping;
- Notice acknowledging completeness;
- Presumption of overriding public interest;
- Timelines for decisions;
- Scope of EIA for grid reinforcement and repowering; and
- Application withdrawn if further Information request not responded to within period specified.
The majority of the changes apply to all planning applications or requests submitted from 6 August 2025. However, the mandatory EIA scoping requirements only apply from 1 May 2026 (Regulations 6, 12, 14 and 18).
Impact on Energy Projects
When they were introduced, the RED III Regulations initially caused some confusion for energy developers who were planning to submit Grid Applications for projects in the September 2025 batch pursuant to the electricity connection policy (known as ECP-GSS).
The second of the planning circulars in relation to the RED III Regulations referred to “timing issues related to the closing date of the next grid batch application window (closing 30 September 2025) and the introduction of S.I. 274 of 2025 not allowing sufficient time to conclude the completeness check”. Helpfully, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) issued an Information Note on 25 August 2025 with an update in relation to the planning application acknowledgement of completeness.
In November 2025 the CRU issued a similar Information Note in relation to the upcoming 31 March 2026 grid application batch. This sets out guidelines on the (somewhat complicated) planning requirements which are summarised in the table below.
| Planning status of relevant project | Requirement |
| Applied for planning after August 2025 and received an acknowledgment of completeness within 45 days. | Submit your Grid Application within 15 days of receiving your acknowledgement of completeness, accompanied by the acknowledgment of completeness. |
| Applied for planning before August 2025 but did not apply into the September 2025 Batch. | Provide a copy of a letter issued by the local authority or correspondence from ACP acknowledging receipt of the application dated prior to 30 September 2025. Such Grid Applications are not subject to the above 15-day requirement. |
| No acknowledgement of completeness or notice requesting the applicant to submit a complete application received within the 45-day period. | Provide a copy of a letter issued by the Local Authority in respect of the proposed development. This letter does not have to be dated prior to 30 September 2025. The Grid Application must be submitted within 60 days of the planning application being submitted. If the application which is the subject of the letter is subsequently invalidated, the applicant must inform the relevant system operator as a matter of urgency and the project will not be included in the March 2026 batch. |
Conclusion
As with any new legislative framework, the initial implementation period has required adjustment by both developers and decision makers. However, with proper application , the new RED III Regulations should indeed streamline and shorten the permitting process.
Contact
If you would like to discuss the RED III Regulations in more detail, please contact Maeve Delargy, Ruadhan Kenny or your usual Matheson contact.
With thanks also to Isabella Angelosante for her input.
[1] CEPP 1/2025; CEPP 2/2025, CEPP 3/2025, CEPP 4/2025 and CEPP 1/2026