Editorials

The Irish Times view on the biodiversity crisis: protecting the honey bee

The native Irish honey bee was thought to be extinct in Ireland, but new research shows that the native species survives here

Celeste Buckler (3) from Garrisstown, north County Dublin, at a demonstration at the Dáil last Thursday as beekeepers highlighted the plight of native Irish bees and sought support for the current bill in the Seanad to protect the native honey bee. Photograph Nick Bradshaw
Celeste Buckler (3) from Garrisstown, north County Dublin, at a demonstration at the Dáil last Thursday as beekeepers highlighted the plight of native Irish bees and sought support for the current bill in the Seanad to protect the native honey bee. Photograph Nick Bradshaw
Mon Jun 06 2022 - 17:00 • 2 MIN READ

A Bill introduced by Green Party senator Vincent Martin for the protection of the native Irish honey bee attracted impassioned, well-informed support from all parties and independents in the upper house last week. The essential role played by native pollinators in our prosperity, and even our survival, was repeatedly recognised.

While the news on the environmental front grows grimmer daily, this debate was a positive indication that the need to respond is being more widely accepted across the political spectrum. But it still much too early to say that there is sufficient momentum to begin to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises effectively.

The native Irish honey bee, or black bee, Apis mellifera mellifera was thought to be extinct here, and has indeed vanished from many northern European countries, largely because of the importation of alien honey bees by bee-keepers. However, research by NUI Galway shows that the native species survives here, both in the wild and in beehives.

This was good news for bee keepers, as it is calmer than other species and, crucially, the Irish species has developed some immunity to a mite that is wiping out bee populations elsewhere.

READ MORE

Drumcree: ‘We don’t want to go back, we all thought those days were long gone’

Salman Rushdie on watching himself being stabbed: ‘Triggering? That’s a little too military for my liking’

Soon I will be three years off alcohol. I find singsongs more difficult in sobriety

What terrifies me most is a fear that I am inherently not good enough

However, further research shows that a rapidly rising number of native swarms are having these qualities diluted by hybridisation with imported species. So the Bill proposes to ban the importation of honey bees.

It was striking that almost every speaker expressed concerns that the civil service would obstruct this cross-party initiative. Officials in the Department of Agriculture argue that it may violate EU free trade provisions.

Speakers stressed that there are clear exceptions to these provisions where a country’s native biodiversity is threatened. So it was worrisome that Minister of State Pippa Hackett appeared to give these arguments some credence in her response to the debate.

State inertia has contributed significantly to Ireland’s abysmal record on protecting native species. It must not be allowed to hold back a welcome, if long overdue, political tide.