Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 June 2016
76. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his position on the EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides and the State's monitoring of the reduction in bee numbers; the bee population in the years 2006 to 2016 to date. [14246/16]
View answerMy Department recognises the vital importance of protecting our natural environment, including insect biodiversity, while supporting sustainable agricultural production. Irish agriculture is characterised by low levels of insecticide use. In 2013 a partial ban on neonicotinoid insecticides was introduced in the EU due to concerns about possible impacts on pollinators. My Department has fully implemented the Commission decision in relation to these compounds.
Intensive research is ongoing worldwide to quantify impacts of field-level exposure to neonicotinoids and to determine and understand impacts on honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bee species. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently undertaking a new assessment of the risks posed by neonicotinoids to take account of all relevant information that has become available since 2013. This assessment is expected to be completed by the end of January 2017 and will provide the scientific basis for a further Commission proposal expected next year.
My Department will continue to evaluate pesticides based on robust scientific evidence, ensuring the availability of products to support sustainable agricultural production and recognising the need to find a sustainable balance between the protection of pollinators and agricultural production.
With regard to monitoring bee populations, it should be noted there are 98 different species of bees present in Ireland. These comprise of one managed species, the honeybee, and 97 wild species which include 20 species of bumblebees. The best indicator of changes in the wild bee population is Ireland’s Bumble Bee Monitoring Scheme. Indeed Ireland was the first country in the world to develop a national bumble bee monitoring scheme and a number of other countries have since followed our lead. Since Ireland’s Bumble Bee Monitoring Scheme commenced in 2012 the research has identified that there has been no significant decline in bumble bee numbers.
Ireland’s National Apiculture Programme is a research programme co-funded by my Department and the European Commission. In recent years it has been lead by researchers based in University of Limerick working in conjunction with Teagasc and NUI Maynooth. As part of the National Apiculture Programme the State has been monitoring over-winter honeybee colony losses each year since the winter of 2008-2009. Over this period annual Irish overwinter losses have ranged from 13% in some years to as high as 37% in 2012/2013. The Irish weather has a strong influence on colony strength. The exceptionally wet summer in 2012 followed by the prolonged cold weather in early 2013 which resulted in a very late Spring proved a detrimental combination for Irish bees. Indeed the impact of the weather that year is supported by the fact that for the preceding and the following year’s beekeepers only experienced 13% over-winter losses.
