Motion: Protection of Native Honeybees

“Given Fermanagh & Omagh District Council’s commitment to the All-Ireland        Pollinator Scheme, and noting previous Council decisions taken in relation      to reducing the use of harmful pesticides, reducing grass and hedge cutting     and encouraging protection and promotion of natural habitats for our bee  population, this Council calls on the British Government, and on the relevant   Stormont & Dáil Ministers, to oppose the importation of Italian honeybees onto this island, and to move to completely ban such actions in future.

The recently publicised move by a Kent bee keeper to avoid the import ban  by importing 15 million Italian bees into Britain, via the island of Ireland,  poses a serious potential threat to thousands of hives, to our native bee  population and to its future viability.

The Ulster Beekeepers Association and Low Country Native Irish Honeybee Association have expressed serious concern in relation to the small hive beetle and to the potential threat posed to native black Irish honeybees (which academic studies have established as the “best gene of black bees in Europe”). These worries have been echoed by beekeepers in Britain.

Mindful of such risks, FODC calls on the British & Irish Government, as well  as on the relevant Ministers in Stormont, Dáil Éireann & Westminster, to  stop the import of Italian bees into Britain via the North of Ireland, as well as  onto the island of Ireland, North and South, with or without the intent of forward exportation”..