Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I wish to raise the serious increase in bee mortality rates in this country and across the European Union, given the role bees play in the pollination of commercial crops, and the findings the Minister for Agriculture and Food and his Department have presented to the European Food Safety Authority on the current survey of member states on this issue.

We know there are many complex challenges facing the country and the global economy but the important fact of bee pollination of our crops must rate as one of the greatest. There is climate change but there is also the serious problem which is becoming evident from a decline in the world bee population.

Research into this issue, otherwise known as colony collapse disorder, has shown staggering declines in bee populations. In North America, one third of the bee population is said to be lost. In France it is somewhere between 10% and 25%. Japan and South America have seen dramatic falls, and in the Middle East there is said to be a fall of somewhere between 20% and 80%.

I have kept bees for many years in County Carlow, underneath the Blackstairs Mountains. My own bee colonies died from varroa, which affects their immune system. It is a horrible disease and one hates to see that happening but if what is happening with small bee keepers is replicated across the world and the devastating impact this could have on our crops, it deserves a serious response from the Department of Agriculture and Food.

I welcome the fact the European Food Safety Authority has commissioned a survey of member states on bee population levels and what might be causing their decline. I am aware An Taisce has said that among the important factors which can help sustain our bee populations are the avoidance of pesticides, the protection of our hedgerows, increasing our biodiversity and creating buffer zones between hedges and woodlands. We must realise that the way we treat our environment is linked to the way we treat our society, and in turn our economy. The country must protect its natural environment. I want to know what analysis the Department has done on this environmental problem and the measures it is adopting to protect the 100 or so species of bees in this country, almost 30% of which are apparently under threat.

This is an economic issue. The role bees play in the pollination of commercial crops is worth €85 million a year to the economy. A third of the Western world's diet requires the pollination of plants by bees, particularly fruit and vegetables. We must protect these colonies.

This problem is another reminder of the threat of climate change. The declining migration of bees because of climate change is a grim reminder of what global warming is doing to our biodiversity. Our world without bees would be a devastating place to live. Albert Einstein once said that if the bee disappeared from the surface of the Earth, man would have only four years of life left. We may have more than four years but we must address the issue now for the future of mankind.

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