The ‘Host a hive; help the honey bee’ initiative has been launched in conjunction with World Bee Day which took place on Monday, May 20.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Andrew Doyle announced the initiative which aims to encourage forest owners to introduce beehives to their native woodlands.
The ‘Host a hive; help the honey bee’ programme is also being run in partnership with Woodlands of Ireland and the national beekeeping associations, and is supported by the Native Irish Honeybee Society.
Meanwhile, Minister Doyle confirmed the arrival of honey bees to Agriculture House where hives have been installed on its city centre headquarters building along Kildare Street.
My department is a huge supporter of pollinator-friendly initiatives and we continue to invest heavily in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.
He continued: “Beekeepers need space for hives in productive foraging areas and what better place to establish a hive than a native woodland. I have no doubt that Irish forest owners will be buzzing at the opportunity to help save Ireland’s honey bees.
“This will also feed into the national effort to protect and preserve bees under the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.”
Location, location, location
Minister Doyle went on to say that native woodland created and restored under the department’s National Forestry Programme “are ideal locations” for hives.
He also pointed out that the department was in the process of writing to all owners of a woodland created or restored under the Native Woodland Scheme to invite them to contact a beekeeping association if they are interested in hosting a hive or a number of hives.
The scheme involves no effort, or cost, for the landowner as the beekeepers carry their own insurance, supply the hives and maintain them.
Doyle continued: “Participation benefits the landowner by increased pollination in the woodland and the potential to further develop local honey-producing enterprises similar to Wicklow’s ‘Nectar Way’ agri-food tourism initiative.”
‘Bee-cause we care’
He said the initiatives were the latest in a series of department supports that provided aid and supported bees and beekeepers.
“Under the department’s locally led schemes we are now investing €1.2 million in a four-year pollinator project led by the National Biodiversity Centre; this will work directly with farmers to help them make their farms more pollinator friendly,” he added.
“We can all play our part in making Ireland a place where bees can survive and thrive and my department is fully committed to helping those efforts in any way we can and this ‘Host a hive’ project is another excellent way to do so.”