I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend and extend the Local Government Act 2001 and, for that purpose, to provide for applications for a community garden; to require local authorities to publish a community garden policy; and to provide for related matters.
I begin my contribution using the words of Justyna Traore, one of the driving forces behind the Top of the City community garden, which sits perched at the top of Barrack Street in the heart of Waterford and overlooking Ireland’s oldest city. This is what she said about the impact of the garden in her community:
You could see it during Covid, people found peace, it kept people sane.
The fact that we developed a wasteland into a community garden gives residents, even those not directly connected with the garden, hope for a change for the better. They see something that was not used, something that was full of rubbish, turned into a green organically, sustainably run space, where people can engage with each other, they can grow food, they can participate in various events, they can meet neighbours that they never met before in the street.
Community gardens are like seeds. The idea of a community garden extends the idea of growing, it’s not only about growing, it’s about socialising, it’s about finding the language of togetherness, developing something that serves everyone regardless of their background, regardless of their beliefs.
I would like to thank Justyna and other members of Community Gardens Ireland, including the chairperson, Dónal McCormack, for their extensive input in the development of this Bill. Their pre-budget submission to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, of which I am Leas-Chathaoirleach, was one of the most detailed and practical submissions that we received and many of the legislative provisions they recommended are reflected in the Bill.
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Local Government Act 2001 in order that local authorities must prepare and publish a community gardens policy, with each local authority laying out the conditions and criteria applying to the development, allocation and use of community gardens within its administrative area. The policy shall set out the measures taken to develop community gardens, having regard to the principles of universal design. The community gardens policy must be updated at least once every three years. The Bill requires a local authority to make by-laws dealing with the letting and use of the community gardens. The Bill sets out that members of a local community can apply to their local authority to let and use a community garden. The local authority will maintain a waiting list of applicants and offer an available community garden space within its administrative area to applicants, based on the criteria and conditions laid out in its community gardens policy. The Bill sets out that each local authority shall include in its annual report an assessment of progress in relation to its implementation of its community garden policy during the relevant year.
The report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recognises that "Urban environments have an enormous role to play in the conservation and restoration of biodiversity", as well as "the value of green spaces to populations living in urban environments". The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, highlighted urban agriculture initiatives such as community gardening contribute to reducing greenhouse gases. The co-benefits of community growing spaces stretch well beyond tackling global warming and biodiversity loss. They include educational, cultural, and physical, mental and social health benefits. They can and should be a real example of a triple win: a win for people, for communities and for the planet. However, research from Community Gardens Ireland, a volunteer network of over 100 community growing spaces, shows that 23% of local authorities do not have a policy or objective for community growing space and 89% do not operate a waiting list for members of a local community requesting a community growing space. Ireland lags well behind other countries in the management and support of community growing spaces, offering far fewer plots per capita than our EU counterparts. As our urban population grows, the availability of community growing spaces in our towns and cities will become even more important.
I will quote Ron Finley from his TED Talk on guerrilla gardening. He said:
I have witnessed my garden become a tool for the education, a tool for the transformation of my neighborhood. To change the community, you have to change the composition of the soil. We are the soil. ... Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do ... Plus you get strawberries.
He asks for the shovel to become our weapon of choice but, mindful of Heaney’s warning, I know that as a legislator I have a different tool at my disposal:
... I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.