Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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258. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department and public bodies/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. [24259/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s Climate Action Plan 2023 including the 2023 Public Sector Climate Action Mandate, requires public sector bodies to show leadership in climate action by taking, and reporting on, the actions they are undertaking to reduce GHG emissions by 51% by 2030. My Department’s Climate Action Roadmap which is currently being developed will set out our policy response to the Climate Action Roadmap.

My Department has a long standing internal green team which over the past four years has facilitated the delivery of many significant decarbonisation and green initiatives, several in collaboration with partners in the Office of Public Works (OPW) and SEAI.

In 2021 the Department installed two beehives filled with native Irish honeybees (Apis Mellifera Mellifera) on the roof of its headquarter building at 23 Kildare Street in Dublin. The species housed in the hives are the native black bees which have adapted to our native environment and are best suited to the Irish climate. This species were selected with the advice of the Heritage and Conservation Services of the Office of Public Works.

The operation of such policies by the agencies under the Department’s remit is an operational matter for the agencies. I have asked the agencies for the information sought and will respond directly to the Deputy with an update as soon as possible.