Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I formally second the introduction of the Bill to protect our native Irish honey bee. I am glad that we have the Minister of State from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with us today because this is a most important issue. We are at a crisis point in the context of protecting our native Irish honey bee. It is most important. The bee is a small creature, but this is not a small issue. It is about time that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine looked beyond beekeeping as a mere hobby. It is integral to agriculture and food production in this country. The Department needs to move beyond the hobby mentality and see what beekeepers have known for generations, namely, that beekeeping is inextricably linked to food production. This matter should be priority for the Department. While we have the Minister of State here, I wish to highlight that we should be looking towards counting active beehives as a unit of livestock. This would assist both beekeepers and farmers to achieve what we need, which is to protect our native bee stock and to realise what is laid out in our all-Ireland pollinator plan. It is most important. I thank Senator Martin for his work on the Bill.