Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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540. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department and public bodies or agencies that operate under his remit have policies in place to install artificial structures that provide shelter and habitat space for wild species, such as, but not limited to, insect hotels, bat boxes, nesting towers and beehives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24266/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, as part of my Department’s commitment to biodiversity, two bee hives were installed at its Dublin HQ building during 2022.The original 15,000 bees populating each hive have built up over the spring and there are now approximately 40,000 bees in each hive, bringing in nectar from the chestnut and sycamore trees and pollen from the flowers in St. Stephen’s Green.

In addition, staff in my Department’s offices in Killarney have planted over 50 whitethorn (hawthorn) saplings to provide a safe nesting area for birds, and food and shelter for various insects. A log/brush pile in the wild flower garden provides a variety of habitat types for insects. A bee hotel was fashioned from the trunk of the Christmas tree; the trunk was turned into nesting blocks with tunnels of various hole diameters drilled into them, to encourage nests of different bee species. We have also encouraged a ‘bee bank’ for mining bees on a bank with bare soil and ensure that vegetation is removed. This area is surrounded by managed wild lawns.

My Department will continue to look for further suitable opportunities in its estate.

I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the bodies and agencies under the remit of my Department and the following details have been provided to date.

The Courts Servicepublished its first Environmental Sustainability Strategyin November 2021, with Biodiversity listed as one of four pillars of the strategy. Its goal was articulated over the following three-year period ‘to manage our estate in a way that supports biodiversity and is pollinator friendly’. To that end the Courts Service has instigated the following biodiversity initiatives on its estate:

• Insect hotels in Carrick-on-Shannon Courthouse in County Leitrim and Nenagh Courthouse in County Tipperary.
• Swift nesting boxes in Mullingar Courthouse, County Westmeath and Ennis Courthouse, Co Clare.
• An attic bat room in Mullingar Courthouse, County Westmeath and Kilrush Courthouse, Co Clare.
• Pollinator-friendly rewilding projects at the following locations:
  • Carlow Courthouse, Co. Carlow
  • Wexford Courthouse, Co. Wexford
  • Waterford Courthouse, Co. Waterford
  • Cavan Courthouse, Co. Cavan
  • Tullamore Courthouse, Co. Offaly
  • Cork Criminal Court, Angelsea Street, Co. Cork
  • Limerick Courthouse, Mulgrave Street Co. Limerick
  • Nenagh Courthouse in County Tipperary
  • Carrick-on-Shannon Courthouse, Co. Leitrim
  • Roscommon Courthouse, County Roscommon.