Mr. D?nal McCormack:

The survey we conducted in 2021 showed that only about 20% of allotments in community gardens were permanent. First off, increasing that number would be something that would be fantastic to come out of this committee. A figure of 20% is incredibly low, and it shows the risk for many of the other gardens that are out there.

In terms of the question about having the word "shall" in there, this is not just about allotments, it is also about allotments and community gardens. Therefore, it should have some type of definition around community growing spaces or something along those lines. We were having this discussion beforehand, and when it comes to more built-up areas, allotments might not actually be feasible because there could be too many people who want to use a certain space. Having something that could be provided which could be community gardens instead of allotments might be a bit more preferable. However, some type of emphasis needs to be put on local authorities to achieve that.

I cannot remember if it is in the development plan or not, but Dublin City Council has committed to carry out an audit of all green space areas to see which lands could be used for allotments or community gardens. Doing that on a five- or ten-year basis would be quite good because once the waiting list is set up, that is the data required and then the review can be done and the demand in the local area is known. Doing that on a frequent basis would be a good action for local authorities to undertake. It is not just looking at their own land; it is looking at all available land in the area as well and trying to see if there are other State-owned bodies that they would be able to use or use their land or have a partnership approach with them that they provide for a certain number of years.

Looking at Denmark again, it has classified permanent gardens and non-permanent gardens. That is something which could end up being the result of this, namely, that they are defined and there is a risk associated with some meanwhile uses. What we want is those cases where evictions will happen is for a solution to be put place beforehand. It is quite reasonable for allotments and community gardens to be provided with a solution well in advance and for consultation to be there. Having some sort of right of local communities to be able to access land would be very useful.