Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I might continue that point before calling Deputy Ó Broin. We have lost touch with biodiversity. There is the Tidy Towns notion that towns need to be neat, trim and tidy but I believe it should be "Wild Biodiverse Towns". We have a ways to go just yet, though. We have become detached from food to a certain extent - we have lost that relationship. Food is now something that is purchased in the supermarket. As Deputy McAuliffe said, food growing fed families and might have supplemented their incomes many years ago. We might see carrots on sale for 49 cent per kilo, but when we try to grow a kilo of carrots ourselves, we realise that there is a gap and someone is losing out badly if those carrots are on a shelf in the supermarket for 49 cent or whatever it might be. There is a great deal of work involved.

Not only is there the important communal aspect of community gardens – five-year-olds or six-year-olds can be out there gardening alongside their great-grandmothers, grandmothers or whatever they might be and sharing that skill set – but recreating connectivity with food is also a part of it. This is where our food comes from. It grows an awareness around biodiversity and the food chain. There is also the carbon aspect, in that anything that grows sucks in carbon. That is the natural cycle. There are a number of aspects through which this matter can be approached.

We are all behind this concept – the witnesses have heard many times that we all support it – but I want to discuss the practicalities of what we can do. We have examined the legal issues and I have jotted down a number of recommendations from the witnesses' report and today's discussion. If ten or 15 people approached a municipal district or local authority and said they wanted a community garden or allotments, what resistance would there usually be from the local authority?