Carlow and Kildare Keepers Swarm to Athlone for Bee Conference

Members of Carlow and South Kildare Beekeeping Associations attended the Native Irish Honey Bee Society (NIHBS) annual conference at the weekend. Entitled “Keep it Local”, the conference attracted their biggest numbers yet with speakers including Professor Grace McCormack from Galway University who spoke about the work the Galway Honey Bee Research Centre has carried out showing that Ireland still held significant populations of Apis mellifera mellifera (Amm), the subspecies native to here, and under threat elsewhere across its range and also that wild honey bees are common here.

Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda is a commercial beekeeper whose primary interest is in honey production, and over the 12 years he has worked as a full-time beekeeper, his colonies averaged close to 80 lbs p.a. Given Ireland’s cool and damp climate, he believes that to achieve good yields, it is important to work with locally adapted bees that can best take advantage of the generally short periods of good weather.

Mike Palmer, also a commercial beekeeper, but from Vermont spoke about how best to improve local bee stock and the weekend was wrapped up with Colm O’Neill on practical queen rearing for conservation.

Speaking about the success of the conference, NIHBS Chairperson, Loretta Neary said: “We are very pleased to see the biggest turnout yet. Our membership rose by 20% this last year which is encouraging and means our message is reaching the general public who are interested in learning more about our threatened native Irish honey bee and are keen to help us conserve it.”

Ms. Neary continued: “Honey bee hybridisation in Ireland is worrying and rose from under 5% in 2018 to over 12% in 2023 with some areas having more than 30% hybrids. Many beekeepers confirm that hybrids are leading to aggression and other undesirable characteristics. There will be no return once we lose these important genetics, and the more people we can inform, the more chance we have to save this important part of our natural heritage.”

Legislation to prohibit imports of non-native honey bees was introduced into the Seanad with full party support. The bill was paused until the completion of a review by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. In the meantime, to prevent further worsening of hybridisation, under the precautionary principle an interim ban on imports is urgently required. More information can be found on nihbs.org website.

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Pictured at the conference are (l-r): Back Row: Louis Bolger, Jana Callinan, John Shiel, Shane Kavanagh, Mike Palmer, Diarmuid Cullen

Front Row: Claire Murphy, Loretta Neary, Professor Grace Mc.Cormack and John Little.