Native Irish honey bees at risk of extinction

Beekeepers have warned that native Irish honey bees are at grave risk of extinction.

This weekend, the Native Irish Honey Bee Society is holding its annual conference in Athlone, Co Westmeath, where beekeepers are to express their concerns for the native Irish species.

Irish honey bees have a genetic make-up unique to Ireland, having evolved to cope well with cooler temperatures and rain.

However, they are generally docile creatures under intense threat from habitat loss, pesticides and competition from a huge increase in imports of more aggressive varieties from abroad.

The conference, titled Protecting What We Have: Conserving Ireland’s Unique Ecotype, aims to address the risk of extinction facing the native Irish honey bees due to the increase of hybridisation of bee populations.

Hybrid bees in Ireland have surged from under 5pc in 2018 to more than 12pc today, with some regions reporting figures exceeding 30pc.

The society’s chairperson, Lorretta Neary, said the event, held on Friday and Saturday at the Athlone Springs Hotel, will provide a “platform for vital discussion and finding solutions to protect our unique Irish honey bee”.

“In the face of this crisis, it is imperative that we come together as a community to safeguard our native bees and the essential roles they play in our ecosystems,” she said.

"Once these unique genetic lines are lost, they cannot be reclaimed, and we are running out of time,” she added.

The recent study by University of Galway scientists, published in October, said the native Irish bees are at severe risk of extinction due to unrestricted imports of other bee species.

The study, led by PhD student Alexandra Valentine, took two years and involved testing 505 colonies across 27 counties on the island of Ireland.

A proposed bill to protect the native bees that would ban imports of non-native bees is currently in the Oireachtas.

The Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021 is the work of beekeepers, scientists and barristers from the Climate Bar Association.

It comes as banning imports has been made difficult as bees are considered livestock, which have freedom of movement within the EU.

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