Driveway gates in Meath

• Detached houses on their own sites. 50% of homes are detached, the 19th 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. 34% of people in Meath 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. 342 one-off houses were finished in Meath in 2025, 16% 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.
• New estates. 1,565 estate houses were finished in Meath in 2025. Kildare County Council gives the example of an estate permission that requires open-plan front gardens, which takes a front wall out of the planning exemption. Check your estate's conditions before you order gates.
• Farm and yard entrances. Meath had 4,508 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.

In Meath the planning authority is Meath County Council. Gates up to 2 m at a house are usually exempt under Class 5 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001; a new or wider entrance onto a public road needs permission. For a formal answer, ask Meath County Council for a Section 5 declaration.

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