Ms Maeve Foreman:

One of the interesting things about how allotments and community gardens have developed is that each has their own personality. Some allotments are literally that. A certain number of people can apply for and get a plot of a certain size, or a half a plot, and grow produce for themselves and their family. However, most allotment sites have a community element. In St. Anne’s Park, where there are individual allotments, two or three have been banded together, and that is a community garden element. People who do not have an allotment or do not have the time or energy to give to it can take part in the community garden element, and they grow a mixture of vegetables and flowers and have a sitting area and a communal social area. In community gardens like my own, we grow everything collectively. We have a planting group which plans the year, and the produce is shared by everybody who comes and works in the garden. We are purely communal and collective, although many plots have a little of both. De Courcy Square, which was mentioned by Senator Fitzpatrick, is individual allotments owned by people of the square but they also have a community garden element.