Mr. Donal McCormack:

The best way to start discussing that is, first, to look at a waiting list. We have heard that in some of the more urban, built-up areas there is a need for a waiting list, but that is not the case in most local authorities and local electoral areas. As a first instance, I recommend a waiting list to be put in place. There is a need to examine all land in a local area to see if, currently, there are private allotments or community gardens there and if there are publicly available ones as well. We have called previously for an audit to be put in place in a local area to be able to see what is currently there and what needs to be put in place.

We have asked for departmental guidance to be given on the establishment of allotments and community gardens. This would be encouraging and give specific advice on what they should look like. We mentioned this in the past. For example, how do we make sure that allotments and community gardens are wheelchair friendly? Do we have to build raised beds to a certain level to ensure they are accessible and open for all? There is simple information such as that. There is general advice, such as the planting of wildflowers to encourage additional pollinators, which is good for the people seeking to harvest the produce in the area and also, as we mentioned, very good for the biodiversity background and pollinators. Simple information like that would be very beneficial.

Putting an additional duty on local authorities to provide allotments or community gardens is a must. At present, there are local authorities that are taking years to deliver on these, or perhaps never doing so. I strongly recommend that a duty be imposed on local authorities, similar to what is in place in other countries. We mentioned Scotland. In 2015, it revised its legislation to be able to have an additional emphasis put on local authorities whereby they must provide to the waiting list a community growing space within five years. If they do not, they have to make a very strong case as to why they have not achieved that. If we do not have an all-island approach to this, we believe it will just be mainly focused in the urban areas and not spread out throughout the other towns and places in rural Ireland as well, where there is a need for this. We mentioned that, currently, more planning permissions are being sought for apartments than for houses. There was a report on that by RTÉ in 2020. This is important because, first, no apartments have a requirement for a community garden to be built in as part of their planning. If one goes to request it afterwards, it is always harder to get it brought in, rather than having it designed into it in the first place. That is something we would recommend, that it be required as part of the planning process that a community garden be provided when an apartment block goes above a certain size.

In addition, there is a discussion at present about a food ombudsperson. We note that in Scotland there is a requirement for a Scottish Minister to have to sign off if a local authority removes or redesignates allotments or community gardens. There is potential either for a food ombudsperson to take that role or for a designated Minister to undertake it. The point is that there is a great deal of change required, and a lot more protection. Security was mentioned as well. There should be a great deal more emphasis, ultimately, on making it easier for community groups to go from wanting to take all the good work that has been put in place and the advice given from GIY to get them growing, to having them permanently growing in a sustainable way and to enable communities to come together.

That is just a snapshot. We are not going to answer this in a minute or two. We would be more than happy to make a second presentation if we are discussing what methods are needed to improve this throughout Ireland.