What the Law Actually Says
Earlier in 2026, the Planning and Development Act 2024 came into full effect. Section 48 — the allotment provision — is genuinely significant: for the first time in Irish law, it places a statutory duty on every one of the 31 local authorities to prepare what is called a Sustainable Places and Communities Strategy. That strategy must include objectives for the reservation of land for allotments and community gardens.
Before this, allotments existed in Irish law only in the margins. There was no legal definition, no planning obligation, and no requirement for councils to do anything at all. Now there is.
Community Gardens Ireland has called the Act “groundbreaking” — and in Irish planning terms, it is. The statutory definition of an allotment matters because it triggers planning protections, funding streams, and enforcement mechanisms that simply didn’t exist before.
The Problem: The Guidelines Still Haven’t Come
Here’s where it gets frustrating. The legislation is one thing; the practical guidance to implement it is another. Councils need published guidelines from central government to know how to zone land for allotments, what standards apply, how waiting lists should be managed, and how they’re expected to report progress.
Those guidelines were promised by December 2023. It’s now May 2026. They have not been published.
Community Gardens Ireland co-chair Dónal McCormack was direct about it in an RTÉ interview in April 2026: “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. It’s been three years. It’s incredibly frustrating.”
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage told RTÉ that guidelines “will be progressed as soon as is practical”. Which, at this point, is not a date anyone should bank on.
The Scale of the Problem the Guidelines Are Trying to Fix
Ireland currently has around 2,500 allotments nationally. In the 1940s, wartime food security drove that number to 40,000. It has collapsed 94% since then — not through any policy decision, but through passive neglect as councils repurposed land for housing and roads.
Denmark, with a broadly similar population, has around 50,000 allotments. The UK — which has a legal “right to an allotment” in London boroughs and a structured waiting-list system — has over 330,000.
The waiting list at Dublin’s Raheny allotments is now effectively closed after hitting 10 years. Fingal County Council has had to close both Powerstown and Turvey sites to new applicants entirely. South Dublin’s four sites are waitlisted indefinitely. Cork City’s two sites are running 2–3 year waits at €1/m² — so cheap that demand is essentially unlimited.
Community Gardens Ireland is calling for 10,000 allotments and community gardens by 2030. That would mean quadrupling the current stock in four years. Without published guidelines, that target looks increasingly like wishful thinking.
What’s Actually Moving: GrowAllot and Private Initiatives
While the policy wheels grind slowly, some private and community-led initiatives are moving faster than councils. The most prominent right now is GrowAllot 2026, run by Feebee Foran (founder of natural skincare brand Forager) in partnership with Jimmy Phibbs, who owns Bohernabreena Allotments in the Dublin Mountains.
The initiative gives 10 people the chance to bypass Dublin’s standard ~4-year waiting list and secure a 1m×3m allotment bed for the growing season. Applications surged this spring — Foran told RTÉ that Ireland’s fuel supply disruptions earlier in 2026 prompted a wave of people rethinking food security. “When there’s any kind of a hiccup, even if it’s only a couple of days, it has a lasting impact,” she said.
Enniscorthy Community Allotments in Wexford is another example of what community-led delivery looks like when it actually works: 64 plots, 20 raised beds, a polytunnel with 60 growing spaces, a geodesic dome, and around 250 regular users — all built since 2021, without waiting for a national guidelines document.
What You Can Do While Waiting for Policy to Catch Up
The honest answer is: don’t wait for policy. Here’s a practical path for 2026:
- Join your council waiting list anyway. Even if the wait is 5 or 10 years, register now. People do eventually reach the top — and the list is your proof of demand when lobbying.
- Use the political leverage the law now gives you. Contact your local councillor and ask specifically: what is this council’s timeline for preparing a Sustainable Places and Communities Strategy? What land has been identified for allotments? The Act is their statutory obligation — they can’t ignore a direct question about it. Community Gardens Ireland has resources to help you frame the ask.
- Look at community gardens as a bridge. Many community gardens have shorter wait times and more flexible membership than council allotments. See our community gardens directory for sites across Ireland.
- Consider the plot-share route. Homegrown.ie exists precisely because council policy moves slowly. Suburban gardens, rural farms, church lands, and schools have unused growing space that’s available now — not in 2030. Find a plot near you and start growing this season.
What to Watch For
The guidelines, when they do eventually arrive, will matter. They’ll define what qualifies as an allotment for planning purposes, set minimum size standards, establish waiting-list management rules, and likely create a reporting obligation on councils. When they land, every development plan in the country will need to be updated.
If you want to follow the policy story, Community Gardens Ireland posts updates at cgireland.org. The Enniscorthy Community Allotments has also published a detailed analysis of what the Planning and Development Act 2024 means in practice — worth reading if you want to engage your local councillors with specifics.
In the meantime: the law is on your side, the demand is documented, and the waiting lists are the evidence. Use them.