Ms Maeve Foreman:

That is an interesting one to answer. In our own case, a local group formed and we wanted a growing project; some wanted allotment and some wanted a community garden. Dublin City Council at the time had a waiting list and said that if it is allotments, no one will get one because there were 400 people on the waiting list. That decided on a community garden for us. Initially, we were only about growing food. The community element that the Deputy talked about evolved over time. Just ten years on, we have changed our constitution to recognise that the social and recreational element is equally as important as the food growing element. We now have two stages, a barbecue and a pizza oven and many social and arts events in the garden. It evolved organically. I do not know if one can dictate that element. It comes out of the community working together.

There are loads of examples of that idea of using existing spaces. There is a new garden getting off the ground in Killester called the Back Lane because it is a back lane that they are taking over. There is another one in Donnycarney called Mucky Lane, which was just a bit of open space between two areas that was underutilised. The council was happy for the local residents to farm that space and make a garden out of it. It is getting the balance between the community and the local authority or whoever owns the land, such as the church or the HSE, working together and being open to that community element. I do not think that it can be dictated.