Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Broin made some very good suggestions in his contribution and I have been jotting down some notes of recommendations arising in the discussion. There is the affordability perspective as well. We have spoken about local authorities having public land and we have said that when we densify, we should have green open spaces. Maybe we could start calling them green growing spaces or something like that. We see areas being called "public open spaces" but perhaps a portion should be for public open space for kids to kick a ball around and another portion can be a public growing space. There could be little tweaks in design standards contained in county plans.

There may be private land available on the outskirts of a town, for example, that is not used. The owners might want to offer it as allotments. Does it become unaffordable in such cases or is it very much open to the group to negotiate with a landowner, for example, about putting 20 allotments on land? I know there are other issues, including parking and water access etc.