Driveway gates in Clare

• Detached houses on their own sites. 60% of homes are detached, the 10th highest share of the 26 counties. A detached house usually has its own entrance with piers, and a pair of swing gates or a sliding gate across a wider opening. New piers are a big line on the quote: gates with pillars.
• Power at the gate. 45% of people in Clare live outside any town or village, where the gate can be a long way from the house. BM Alarm Systems prices running power to a gate with no supply nearby at €200–€600, VAT not stated. If the drive is being dug anyway, lay the duct then.
• New one-off houses. 264 one-off houses were finished in Clare in 2025, 42% of all new homes there against 16% nationally. A new entrance onto a public road needs planning permission (Clare County Council's guidance), so it's settled in the house's own permission. Plan the piers, the width of the opening and the power for the gate at the same time.
• Farm and yard entrances. Clare had 6,297 farms in the 2020 Census of Agriculture. A yard gate that opens many times a day needs a motor rated for that use, and a wide, heavy gate needs a bigger motor and stronger hinges. Gate motors.

Clare County Council's exempted development FAQ is the guidance we quote across this site: gates and gateways up to 2 m can be built or replaced without permission, subject to site location, planning history and particulars, and a new or wider access to the public road needs permission. For a formal answer, Clare's Section 5 form is P07, sent with a site location map and an €80 fee, with a decision in four weeks if nothing more is needed.

The planning rules in full: Class 5 word for word, entrances, walls and piers, and how a Section 5 declaration works.