Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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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.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Cheann Comhairle as an ceist seo a ligint anocht. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Mary White as an ceist thábhactach a ordú chomh maith.

My Department offers support to beekeepers through a number of initiatives. We administer the national apiculture research programme 2007-10, which provides some €267,000 in funding over the three years. The European Union co-funds €245,000 of this amount and the main element in the current Irish programme is a research project led by Professor John Breen and Dr. Mary Coffey at the University of Limerick. The current programme aims to develop integrated methods to control varroa mites in Ireland, to which Deputy White referred. The Department also works closely with the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations, FIBKA, on many issues of relevance to Irish beekeepers.

The main cause of significant bee losses across Europe at present is colony collapse disorder, which has been mentioned. This phenomenon has been responsible for the loss of large numbers of colonies in America since late 2003. I have read research indicating that if the current rates of loss in the USA are not turned around, there will be no honey bees there by 2035, which would be devastating not just for American but world agriculture. Similar large scale losses also began to be reported in continental Europe around 2003. The causes of colony collapse disorder are not yet certain although various factors are thought to be responsible, including starvation, viruses, mites, nicotine-based pesticide exposure, genetically-modified crops and climate change. Even sub-lethal doses of a chemical can damage a hive if the navigational abilities of bees are compromised.

FIBKA currently represents over 1,700 beekeepers nationally. I am glad to be able to inform the House that to date FIBKA reports no significant evidence of colony collapse disorder in Ireland. The weather in Ireland over the last three summers, and especially this summer, has however been very difficult for bees. Often queen bees failed to mate properly due to the poor weather and a number of colony losses last spring have been attributed to poor mating conditions in summer 2008. FIBKA sees good bee husbandry and beekeepers' practices as the key to successful beekeeping. For this reason all beekeepers should register with the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations. It is important that people know its website, which is www.irishbeekeeping.ie, and I urge people to register with the organisation if they are thinking of beekeeping or have already begun doing so.

In January 2009 the European Food Safety Authority was awarded funding to conduct a project aimed at identifying the factors which may contribute to colony collapse disorder and highlighting gaps in scientific knowledge in order to guide future research in this area. Ireland was approached to participate in a recent survey as part of the EFSA project. Although we do not operate a planned bee surveillance network, we supplied detailed information in respect of our sector. In summary, we indicated that we have approximately 2,200 beekeepers, almost all of whom are non-professional. Most but unfortunately not all are registered with the federation.

We estimate that each beekeeper has an average of ten hives and they produce honey for their own personal use and direct local sale in farmers' markets, for example. My Department has registered some 620 beekeepers as primary producers of honey and we believe this figure includes all those operations which are obliged to register under the EU food hygiene regulations. My Department also maintains a database to record details of registered beekeepers, bee importers and exporters, disease outbreaks and the findings of apiary inspections. My Department also monitors imports of bees and takes samples of bee exports as required.

Dr. Mary Coffey, the principal researcher working on Ireland's national apiculture programme, is also participating in the international COLOSS network which is investigating bee colony losses globally. Dr. Coffey will survey Irish beekeepers on colony losses over this autumn through to next spring as part of her role in this network. Irish participation in this worldwide integrated approach to colony losses is most welcome and will help mitigate the detrimental impact of honey bee colony losses for beekeepers, agriculture and natural biodiversity.

In regard to disease control, beekeepers are obliged to notify outbreaks of American and European foul brood disease to my Department. There have been no cases of small hive beetle or tropilaelaps mite detected to date and positive cases of American and European foul brood are routinely followed up and all infected hives are destroyed. Adjacent hives are also sampled for foul brood disease.

This issue goes beyond the needs of beekeepers, as Deputy White mentioned. Pollination by honey bees has been estimated to deliver €85 million of services to Irish agriculture in general, especially in my own area of responsibility in horticulture but also in clover, which affects dairy and meat production. This is one of the many reasons I take a keen personal interest in biodiversity and beekeeping. Apart from keeping abreast of the international research in apiculture, I expect to take delivery of my own hive in February in an orchard in Balbriggan, near Bremore where St. Molaga, the early Christian beekeeping monk, lived.