{"id":401194,"date":"2026-04-16T07:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401194\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:15:10","slug":"gardening-is-like-magic-call-over-allotment-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401194\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Gardening is like magic’ – call over allotment spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group representing allotment growers has called for a significant increase in the number of plots nationwide, saying some existing facilities are reporting waiting times of over ten years. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Department of Heritage has said new guidelines for councils to help them plan for allotments will be published as soon as practical.<\/p>\n

At the Dublin City Council allotments in Raheny in north Dublin, the groundwork is intensifying as the growing season approaches.<\/p>\n

Among those who’ve gathered is Maria Magdelena, who says her own garden isn’t suitable for growing.<\/p>\n

“Gardening is like magic,” she says. “One season, everything works, and another, nothing works.”<\/p>\n

As well as the community aspects of the communal growing, she says she saves money too.<\/p>\n

She grows her own vegetables, cutting down on her supermarket visits.<\/p>\n

\"Maria
\nMaria Magdelena in her allotment in Raheny<\/p>\n

“If you manage to grow what you eat, it will give you quite a few meals and it will cost you almost nothing,” she says.<\/p>\n

There are over 80 plots in Raheny, and all are taken; the demand is clear.<\/p>\n

Chairperson of the facility Steve Rawson had to wait a decade before he secured his plot.<\/p>\n

“The interest in demand for allotments right across Dublin, but particularly here at the moment, is absolutely massive,” he says.<\/p>\n

“There’s a waiting list for about 10 years. In fact, I think it’s so much so that they’ve stopped the waiting list. I personally was waiting 10 years to get into the allotment here, and it gets really, really busy during the summer.”<\/p>\n

\"Steve
\nSteve Rawson waited 10 years to secure his allotment<\/p>\n

At one point, in the 1940s following the Second World War, the Government, with food security in mind, ramped up the number of allotments in Ireland, peaking at around 40,000.<\/p>\n

The number has dropped significantly since then, and it’s estimated now to be around 2,500.<\/p>\n

Campaigners say it’s simply not enough. They point to Denmark, with a similar population, where there are 50,000 plots.<\/p>\n

“We’re calling for 10,000 allotments and community gardens to be provided throughout Ireland by the end of this decade,” says D\u00f3nal McCormack, co-chair of Community Gardens Ireland.<\/p>\n

“They’re beneficial because they’re good for communities. They’re good for people to come together, to break ground together, to grow together. And then they’re good for the wider environment as well.<\/p>\n

“You see around here, there’s plenty of birds, there’s foxes, and there’s bat boxes behind me as well. I suppose these places are sanctuaries for people and also for wildlife,” he says.<\/p>\n

\"D\u00f3nal
\nD\u00f3nal McCormack says allotments are ‘beneficial because they’re good for communities’<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, legislation was enacted, which now puts an onus on each of the 31 local authorities to actively plan for allotments.<\/p>\n

Those in the sector have described the rules as ‘groundbreaking’, setting out the legal definition of allotments, and also outlining the responsibilities of councils to reserve land for them.<\/p>\n

However, the accompanying guidelines which would advise the councils how to go about their allotment responsibilities have yet to be published.<\/p>\n

“We met with Government ministers a couple of years ago and we were promised the guidelines would be issued from central Government to the local authorities by December 2023. “It hasn’t happened,” says D\u00f3nal.<\/p>\n

“What we’ve been told is that they’ll deliver them sometime in the future, but it’s been three years.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredibly frustrating, but it’s important now with the law coming into place that the guidelines are finally published.”<\/p>\n

\"A
\nIt is estimated that there are around 2,500 allotments in Ireland<\/p>\n

In response, the department responsible, Housing, Local Government and Heritage, said the Planning and Development Act 2024 requires planning authorities to prepare a strategy relating to the creation of sustainable places within their development plans. This includes, it says, the reservation of land for use and cultivation as allotments and prescribed community gardens.<\/p>\n

It also said further guidance for local authorities on the provision of allotments and community gardens will be progressed “as soon as is practical”.<\/p>\n

As those guidelines are awaited, another new season in the country’s allotments beckons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group representing allotment growers has called for a significant increase in the number of plots nationwide, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-401194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}