Sir, – March 6th, 2026, marks 100 years since allotments were first provided for in Irish legislation.
This legislative recognition followed a sustained campaign across the country in the early 1900s, led by activists such as Sarah Cecilia Harrison of the Vacant Land Cultivation Society. Letters sent to The Irish Times from this time called on the Irish government to make similar provisions for allotments to those in other countries.
From 1926 allotments were provided by the Irish government to help with food security and reached a peak in the 1940s with more than 30,000 plots provided in towns and villages across Ireland.
In recent years interest in community gardening has grown dramatically, with provisions for allotments and community gardens a welcome, and hard fought for, inclusion in the Planning and Development Act 2024.
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Despite all this, the number of allotments and community gardens provided in Ireland still remains very low compared with other European countries.
As we look to the next 100 years, the community growers of Ireland ask no special privileges; we simply ask for every community to be supported to find a space to grow. – Yours, etc,
DÓNAL MCCORMACK,
Co-chairperson Community Gardens Ireland,
Blessington,
Co Wicklow.
