Green Party Candidate for Dublin North-East Cllr David Healy has
condemned the proposal by Councillors on Fingal County Council to
refuse allotments in the Fingal area to people not resident within
Fingal’s boundaries.  
Cllr Healy said: "Last year the council unanimously agreed to my motion to reopen the waiting lists and provide more allotments. Numbers on the waiting list have continued to increase since then to over 300. This is despite Fingal County Council not publicising the allotments.  

"Unfortunately, some of the councillors seem to feel that the solution to long waiting lists is to disqualify people from the list. At yesterday’s meeting they proposed to ban Dublin City area residents from inclusion on the waiting list. This is parochial and begrudging. Fingal residents are equally entitled to use Dublin City’s swimming pools (of which Fingal Counry Council has none), libraries and art gallery. The idea that people on one side of an imaginary line running down Kilbarrack Road are entitled to an allotment and people on the other are not is nonsense.

"There has been a surge in interest in allotments because of the increase in apartment living and tiny back gardens both in the Dublin City area and in the Fingal area. Unfortunately, Fingal County Council has looked on allotments up to now as a temporary use of surplus land. We should be providing permanent allotments in the large parks on the north of the city."

[ENDS]

Information
Cllr. David Healy: 087 617 8852
Nicola Cassidy, Press Office: 01 618 4088 / 087 914 8175

The discussion at the Council is on the Council meeting web broadcast at item 27.