Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to the representatives of The Wheel and Community Gardens Ireland for their presentations and submissions to the committee. It is brilliant to see such a strong voice coming forward from The Wheel and from people who are working in the community. I am originally from East Wall, which is beside Mud Island. A fantastic book was written around Mud Island and I imagine the witnesses have read it. It gives a great history of the area. It is so important. I have some comments and questions.

I am a strong advocate for community gardens and allotments in particular. It is one of those issues that comes to the fore every now and again. We have long waiting lists. I find it puzzling that we have such long waiting lists because we have no shortage of land in Dublin West that is owned by the council. It is puzzling that we struggle to get more land in place for people who have a genuine interest. One of my party members is an avid user of the allotments in Powerstown Road in Mulhuddart. I go up to him regularly to get produce. It is fantastic to see the community helping and supporting each other. They get immense enjoyment as well as producing lovely food for people. I fully support it.

Reference was made to supports from local authorities for the provision of land. I was a councillor for many years. We struggled time and again to get the council to provide new land and security. There is an issue around security for people in an urban garden. We battled away for CCTV cameras for the participants, especially the site in Powerstown. It is somewhat isolated. They had major problems there. I always got a sense that community gardens and allotments were seen as a nice thing but not really integral to the work that local authorities should be doing. I would like to hear a comment on that and on how difficult it is. I know that as a councillor it was tough.

I wish to comment on capital funding for land. When we talk about buying land in Dublin 15, we are talking about a serious amount of money. It is at a premium. Anyone who looks at the county development plan can see that almost every area of land that still has a blade of grass on it is ear-marked for something, whether commercial, industrial or residential development. I see little in terms of the community developments.

I will move on to the presentation from The Wheel. A couple of issues arise and I will go through them quickly. I met some section 56 workers who are not involved in any of the pay agreements. They have been left behind by comparison with section 38 and section 39 organisations. Do the representatives from The Wheel have any comment on how we can help and support them to be brought up to the same level as the section 39 workers in respect of pay agreements?

Another point arises around adequate and sustainable funding. There is a double whammy for many community projects that I have been involved in over the years. Those involved have seen the double whammy of the Celtic tiger, from which they have never recovered adequately, and the lack of sustainable funding prior to that. Now they have been hit again with Covid-19 and we can see the impact on their incomes.

There is another impact, not on the sustainability of the projects because they manage the service and the funding excellently, but on how we can move forward and build on what has been not only an incredibly difficult time but also a time where people have adapted, taken the bull by the horns and decided to go for it to support their communities in difficult times. To give an example, I have been involved in community projects for a long time-----