Ms Maeve Foreman:

I will give the Chairman a brief example of Mud Island. The site we are on is quite small. It was zoned residential.

It was a residential block that was demolished on site and then left derelict. It was an eyesore. The council allocated, on an 11-month renewable licence with a compulsory vacate for a month, the land to Mud Island Community Garden on a third of the site, the Larkin Unemployed Centre has a horticultural course there on a third of the site and the rest the council keeps vacant.

The area we live in has the lowest tree canopy in the country, let alone the city. Since it became a useful green space, it now has in its development plan suggested that it be rezoned from one to nine, reflecting the use of it over the past ten years and the success of the use of it over the past ten years. The rezoning is happening.