Garden brings communities together

THERE was a great turn out for the recent grand opening of a new community garden that’s helping bring new and old communities together in Finglas.

The Fairlawn/Prospect Hill Community Garden has also transformed what was a derelict eyesore into allotments where green-fingered locals are now growing their own tasty veg and planting colourful flowers.

It’s a far cry from the bags of rubbish and debris that once littered the site which was creating huge problems for long standing residents of Fairlawn and their neighbours in the relatively new apartment complex at Prospect Hill.

The site, which was once earmarked for housing during the property boom, was attracting anti-social behaviour including illegal dumping but cash-strapped Dublin City Council hadn’t any funds to secure the land.

However, following a series of meetings with locals the council came up with the idea for allotments that would be offered to residents from Fairlawn and Prospect Hill for a nominal annual fee.

The council sourced a e5,000 grant from the Community Growers Fund and asked local community organisation, The Fingal Centre, to manage the project, which has been hailed as a big success by both sets of residents.

“The purpose of this garden was to develop a partnership within the local community to provide the necessary space and skills in order for them to grow their own fruit and vegetables,

? said Marie McCann of The Fingal Centre.

“It also provides a focal point where the community can come together with a common purpose and a sense of belonging and ownership and where they are always welcome.

“With the co-operation of all residents and the work of The Fingal Centre and Dublin City Council it is now a beautiful garden with 40 allotments that have all been tended to by the residents and are now in full crop.

“It was initially planned to create 20 allotment spaces but with the demand we have had to provide 40 spaces and we still have a waiting list.

?

The Fingal Centre has provided two wheelchair accessible raised beds in the garden to the Meeting Place Club; a local organisation for children with disabilities.

Since work begun on the site there have been no reports of anti social behaviour and the garden has allowed residents from neighbouring communities who hardly knew each other to integrate socially.