Ms Maeve Foreman:

My role today is to talk briefly on the "why" of community gardening. Then I will hand back to Mr. McCormack, who will talk more about the "how".

I am from Mud Island community garden in Dublin's north inner city. This is our tenth anniversary. We are on land that was zoned for social housing and it is currently in the development plan to be rezoned as zone 9 for social amenity and green networking. Its use during Covid was indispensable because it provided a safe outdoor space for use by local schools and groups. One good example was our seed-to-pizza project with a couple of the local schools where the children came in, grew wheat from seed, watched it grow, tended it, learnt how to harvest it to mill flour, and then Mr. Tino Fusciardi from our local pizzeria came and showed them how to make pizza in our pizza oven. Since then, many of them have brought their parents back into the garden.

As well as the obvious contribution that community gardens and allotments make to the national biodiversity action plan and the all-Ireland pollinator plan, to which Community Gardens Ireland contributes, the evidence-based benefits include positive impacts on physical and mental health. There is a lot of evidence. Some of the references on that are in the report that we have given to the committee. There are also clear educational, cultural and social gains. Gardens and allotments encourage active citizenship and social connection, and are ideally placed to receive referrals from the increasing number of social prescribers around the country. The new national network of social prescribers is an indication of how that is increasing.

Urban agriculture initiatives such as community gardening are highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as assisting with reducing greenhouse gases, improving urban food security, improving biodiversity and adapting to climate change impacts.

Community gardens and allotments also offer a cost-effective accessible solution to improve health, strengthen community ties and build a more resilient nation. Despite all of this, as Mr. McCormack will elaborate on, there is no countrywide policy in place to increase the number of allotments and community gardens.