Mr. D?nal McCormack:

We are here because we are concerned. There are no design standards for how many allotments or community gardens should be provided for a certain number of requests, a certain population or a new development. If 400 houses are being provided, there is not even a recommendation for a certain number of allotments or community gardens to be provided. Having such a guideline would not stifle planning too much and would give an indication to developers to plan such areas accordingly. Everyone knows that, if they are not planned for at the start, it is ridiculously hard to shoehorn them in afterwards. That is common sense.

Regarding targets, something that we did not mention but that is probably important is that, in 2008, London set a target of increasing the number of community growing spaces it provided by 2012. Working with different communities and all political parties, London achieved that. If there is one point that is taken from today's meeting, it should be that having a target for all of the country – Ireland is small – would be beneficial. We could learn from the London experience.