Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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78. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered a ban on bee imports due to the danger to the Irish bee population from disease in imported bee stocks. [35008/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A number of options to limit or ban imports of bees have been considered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, however none of these options have proven to be viable.

The EU has strict bee health certification requirements which apply to the international trade in bees. In accordance with Article 3 of Council Directive 92/65/EEC European Union Member States must not prohibit or restrict for health reasons the international movement of bees once all requirements set down in EU legislation have been met.