Recent planning frameworks and policies have formally recognised the significance of the urban in contemporary Ireland and put in place the groundwork to accommodate, facilitate, and accelerate ‘metropolitanisation.’ If implemented, this new strategic positioning can move Ireland in the direction of more balanced development. However, the new spatial arrangements pose profound implications for existing modes of organisation and economic activity in cities and towns, as well as the rural sphere. Additionally, implementation of the new spatial and economic strategies are challenged by certain factors unique to the Irish context raised in this paper in the form of three provocations: 1) Ireland’s colonial legacies and mindsets hinder appropriate planning and development; 2) the historically grounded idealisation of the rural flattens lived experiences; and 3) moving beyond post-colonial confines requires a new and variegated politics of the urban and rural commons. These provocations serve to to open up a collective dialogue on the contours of a more mature approach to planning practice and policy development in Ireland that more closely resonates with lived experiences.