Waiting lists for allotments now exceed a decade in parts of Dublin. Councils are being urged to create thousands more plots.

Long waits, tight land

At the Raheny allotments in north Dublin, volunteers are finishing groundwork as the growing season approaches. The site has more than 80 plots and every single one is taken. Steve Rawson, chairperson of the Raheny facility, said he waited ten years to get his plot and described demand as "absolutely massive".

Enough people want space to grow, and there simply isn't enough land — we've seen that at Raheny where every plot is taken. Waiting lists in several areas have stretched beyond a decade. In some cases local managers told campaigners they had halted the list because it became unworkable.

Those waits are feeding a simple political ask: campaigners want thousands more allotments and community gardens across the country to be set aside and managed by local authorities.

Why people are queuing

Gardeners at Raheny give a mix of reasons for joining the queue. Maria Magdelena, who tends a plot there, said her own back garden isn’t suitable for growing, and she relies on the allotment for fresh produce.

She told reporters that gardening lifts her mood — seasons come and go and some years are better than others — but crucially she saves money by cutting back on supermarket visits.

Community growing does more than supply vegetables; it brings neighbours together and gives wildlife places to live. It’s social, environmental and economic. Plots offer a place where neighbours meet, wildlife finds refuge — there are birds, foxes and bat boxes at Raheny — and households can reduce grocery bills.

Campaigners point to those benefits when they press the State for action, and they've framed expansion as a public-policy demand. Dónal McCormack, co-chair of Community Gardens Ireland, said allotments build community ties and help local biodiversity. He has set out a target: 10,000 allotments and community gardens to be provided around Ireland by the end of this decade.

History and scale

Allotments were once far more common in Ireland. In the 1940s, with food security in mind, the Government boosted the number of plots and they peaked at about 40,000. Numbers fell sharply after that. Current estimates put the total at roughly 2,500 plots nationwide — a fraction of the mid-20th century peak.

Campaigners point to comparable countries for context. Denmark, with a similar population size, has about 50,000 allotment plots. That comparison is used to argue Ireland could and should scale up provision.

The historical peak of roughly 40,000 plots and comparisons like Denmark's 50,000 give campaigners a target, but finding and preparing land is a political and planning headache.

New duties for local authorities

Earlier this year the Oireachtas passed legislation placing a duty on the 31 local authorities to actively plan for allotments. The law sets out a legal definition for allotments and requires councils to reserve land for them when appropriate.

The Department of Heritage said it will publish guidelines for councils to help with that planning as soon as practical. Officials say the guidelines will explain how to identify suitable land, how to manage waiting lists, and how to support community groups that want to run sites.

Mastheads

That move shifts responsibility from campaigners and volunteers to elected authorities. It’s a change with real political implications — councillors will need to weigh competing demands for land in rapidly growing urban areas.

Political and economic stakes

Allocating land for allotments can be contentious. Local authorities face tight budgets and urgent calls for housing, parks and sports facilities. Setting aside land for community growing means making choices about priorities and public spending.

Allotments are relatively cheap to run compared with many public projects — households can cut grocery bills and communities often bear day-to-day upkeep. Households that grow part of their own food lower their supermarket bills. Community gardens can reduce waste, encourage sharing, and keep money circulating locally rather than being spent solely in larger retail chains.

Plots get people outdoors and talking to each other; that can ease loneliness and boost wellbeing, which campaigners say could reduce pressure on health and social services. Campaigners argue those benefits offset the modest costs of creating and maintaining sites.

Practical hurdles

Land availability is the obvious constraint. Urban councils must juggle limited space amid development pressure. Some sites need remediation before they’re safe for food growing; others require water supply, fencing, sheds and composting facilities. All of that costs money.

Management is another challenge. Allotments need rules, allocation systems and dispute-resolution processes. Many community groups run sites voluntarily, but councils will be expected to provide support under the new duties — whether that’s through capital funding, leases, or administrative help.

There’s also the question of where new sites will be located. Peripheral greenbelt land can look attractive on paper, but travel times and accessibility matter. Plots close to town centres serve people without cars and enrich neighbourhood life.

Local politics and possible tensions

Councillors will face trade-offs. Developers and housing campaigners will press for more homes, while residents may push for green spaces. Some ratepayers will resist public spending on allotments, seeing them as niche. Others will point to long waiting lists as proof of demand and urge swift action.

That tension will play out at council meetings where decisions on land use and budgets are made. Community groups plan to make their case loud and clear: they say allotments aren't a luxury but a public good that links food supply, climate resilience and social cohesion.

What success looks like

If local authorities follow the guidance and commit land, success will mean more than counting plots. It will mean functional sites with water and compost, fair allocation systems, and active community governance. It will mean younger people and renters getting access, not only homeowners with gardens.

Supporters want council investment in training and seed funding so new sites don’t collapse under volunteer burnout. They also want policies that protect allotment land from short-term development pressures.

Broader implications

Allotments touch on wider debates about urban planning, sustainability and how cities support healthy living. They offer a practical way to boost local food resilience — small-scale, distributed food production that can soften supply shocks.

Looked at politically, allotments are an easy win for councils that want to show local action on climate and community wellbeing without large bills. But turning rhetoric into plots will test local government capacity and priorities.

For many growers the math is simple: a few hours a week, a patch of soil, and meals that cost only a fraction of supermarket prices. For councils the question is whether that simplicity is worth the effort of planning, funding and protecting spaces over the long term.

Voices from the ground

Steve Rawson, chairperson at Raheny, said the site becomes crowded in summer and that people travel from across the city to use local plots. Maria Magdelena, a plot-holder, said growing her own food changed how her household shops and eats, giving them several meals from what they harvest.

Dónal McCormack, co-chair of Community Gardens Ireland, has quantified the demand and the ask: he wants 10,000 allotments and community gardens by 2030. He argues that increased provision will help communities come together and support wildlife as well as people.

Those practical experiences are the backbone of the campaign. If councils act on the new legal duties and the Department of Heritage issues practical guidance soon, campaigners say the waiting lists can shrink and more people will get a patch of land to call their own.

Related Articles

"We're calling for 10,000 allotments and community gardens to be provided throughout Ireland by the end of this decade," said Dónal McCormack, co-chair of Community Gardens Ireland.

This article was created with AI assistance.