Gavin Lawlor

You do one application that covers a number of users.

So there is a specific provision in the Planning Acts that allows you to convert a residential property into a care facility.

There's limited use of it.

Off the top of my head, I think it's seven users, seven people who need care and one full-time carer.

So the idea is that it's not meant to be an intensive use, but it can be used for those purposes.

So long as they stay within the planning exemption, they don't need planning permission.

And unfortunately, if you're a neighbour, you don't have any say in that.

Absolutely.

And it can be very difficult to get that answer, unfortunately, with planning authorities because the planners that are in there are very, very busy.

A lot of this information is available online at Citizens Advice.

They have some very, very good, the Citizens Advice website has some very, very good information.

Kildare County Council have a good guidance in terms of what you can do with your house.

There are a lot of resources online.

The Office of the Planning Regulator have a very good guidebook.

But some of the stuff, particularly some of the questions you've asked me here today, are very nuanced.

And only somebody who would be a planning consultant or a town planner working in a local authority or an inspector in the commission would actually have the answers to those.

And some of them sometimes can be even trickier than that.

Again, that can be very, very nuanced.

Absolutely.

You do, unfortunately.