Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would say the Acting Chairman's pronunciation is as good as mine. A series of high-profile scientific studies in the past year has increasingly linked a pesticide group known as neonicotinoids to harmful effects in bees, including huge losses in the numbers of queens produced, as well as large increases in disappeared bees, that is, those that failed to return from foraging trips. If ever there was an issue in which the precautionary principle ought to guide one's actions, the use of neonicotinoids certainly is one in which precaution should be one's guiding principle. Bees are far too important to crops to continue to take this risk. Beekeepers and environmental scientists have become increasingly concerned by the mass die-off of bees seen in recent years, including the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Increasingly, the finger has been pointed at these pesticides manufactured by the giant agribusiness companies Bayer, which I believe sponsors the football club, and Syngenta.

More than 300 separate scientific studies in the past three years have shown adverse effects on insects such as bees from these chemicals, which attack insects' nervous systems and are systemic, meaning they are taken up in every part of the plants in which they are applied. This means they are not simply present on the leaves and seeds that pest insects might eat but also are to be found in the pollen and nectar gathered by bees in the process of pollination. The European Commission has made proposals to ban the use of three of these neonicotinoid insecticides used in maize, rapeseed, sunflower and cotton cultivation from July 2013. The pesticides concerned were highlighted as a risk to bees in a recent scientific survey by the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA. All three pesticides are used widely in Ireland and environmental campaigners believe the pesticides should be banned before bee numbers fall further. Bumblebee and honeybee numbers have declined recently in both Ireland and Europe, prompting fears for food security, as the insects pollinate both fruit and vegetables. Some countries are opposed to this ban and are preparing their own scientific studies to challenge recent European Union research conducted by the European Food Safety Authority, which found the pesticides posed a risk to the declining bee populations. Naturally, Bayer is opposed to the ban and it was hardly surprising to hear the company state that disproportionate action would jeopardise the competitiveness of European agriculture, would lead finally to higher costs for food, feed, fibre and renewable raw materials and would have an enormous economic impact throughout the entire food chain.

However, in recent years there has already been a steep and disturbing global decline in bee populations. Some already have become extinct and some species in America are running at only 4% of their previous numbers. Italy has banned these pesticides and has already seen its bee population recover, which is a sure indication that Ireland should be doing the same. The Minister voted against the proposal but I believe he will have another opportunity to think again about the issue. I acknowledge those who will lobby the Minister to keep the chemicals on the market have more power then those who are trying to save the poor bees. I am sure the Irish Wildlife Trust has been in contact with the Minister and I note that Billy Flynn, who was one of the people who were very disappointed, has stated there is strong scientific evidence that these insecticides are not good news for key pollinators. He also has pointed out that Ireland has 101 different bee species, of which half are in decline, with six having been assessed as being critically endangered. Neonicotinoids are implicated in colony collapse disorder and in bees' ability to navigate. As I already have noted, the European Food Safety Authority has labelled them as posing an unacceptable danger to bees. Likewise, campaigner Pádraic Fogarty has asked what particular groups lobbied the Minister and has asked who managed to sway the Minister in the direction of standing by the chemical firms at the expense of the poor bees. The Minister probably will recall that a few years ago, Einstein said that were the bees to ever disappear from the planet, we would probably only last approximately six years.

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