Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. Ireland is the last stronghold in the world of the native black honey bee, which as Senator McGreehan says, comes from northern Europe. This bee is under major threat. Beekeepers are not going to stand idly by. They are in negotiations with the Department for the past 50 years. Luckily, we now have a Minister who understands and is sympathetic. They want action not words. This is not a criticism of the EU, because the EU has the mechanism and the provisions under Article 36 to take measures which, in essence, would have the effect of restricting and prohibiting the importation of non-native honey bees to Ireland.

The EU has in its treaty the precautionary principle, which allows for a higher level of environmental protection through preventive decision taking in the case of risk. There is the well-established habitats directive and there is significant regulation dealing with the prevention and spread of alien species. This is not new. This was challenged in the court about 20 years ago. The Danish decision to prohibit the importation of non-native honey bees was upheld. They wanted to retain the brown bee. The decision stated there was a high threshold and it must be justified and proportionate. We are convinced that we have the expert compelling evidence to make this move and we should do so sooner rather than later. I thank the Minister of State for her engagement to date with the beekeepers and I welcome the fact that she is going to engage further with them.