Over one in three planning applications was declared invalid by seven local authorities in 2006, according to figures from the Department of the Environment.
Among the highest areas for invalidations were Galway and Limerick city councils where around 41 per cent of all planning applications were invalidated and sent back to the applicant.
Other councils where the level of planning application invalidation was high in 2006 included Leitrim County Council (39 per cent), Waterford City Council (38 per cent), Limerick County Council (37 per cent), Laois County Council (35 per cent) and Dublin City Council (33 per cent).
The high level of invalidations has been criticised by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) which says planning invalidations are a waste of time for applicants and planning authority personnel, and that invalidations impose unnecessary financial costs and delays to the planning process.
Joe Millar, practice director with the RIAI, explains that regulations introduced in 2001 are very specific and some "planning authorities have not been flexible in dealing with some minor technical difficulties".
Planning applications can be declared invalid for many reasons, ranging from failure to indicate the north point on maps to discrepancies between site notices and newspaper adverts, he says.
The RIAI argues that validating applications at planning departments' public counters is a simple solution to the problem.
If there is a difficulty with the application, the problem is identified on the spot, the applicant remedies the difficulty and resubmits the application within a matter of days, according to the RIAI.
The RIAI points to the success experienced by four local authorities which have adopted the process of "at counter validation" in the last 18 months.
Leading the way in this regard is Louth County Council which deals with around 1,800 planning applications a year. In 2006 no planning applications were declared invalid.
Between 0.8 and 5 per cent of all 1,600 applications to Sligo County Council were invalidated, and in Wexford County Council up to 7.9 per cent of 4,800 applications were invalidated in 2006.
The contrast between different local authorities is most striking in Galway. In Galway city between 28-47 per cent of all 800 planning applications were invalidated in 2006, compared to up to 2 per cent of invalidations at Galway County Council where, on average, 4,900 planning applications were processed.
Joe Millar said the RIAI would like to see the practice of "at the counter" validation adopted by all 34 local authorities so that minor problems can be identified immediately.
