Council signs up to plan to save bees

A third of Ireland’s 99 species of bee are in danger of extinction, Westmeath’s heritage officer Melanie McQuade warned councillors at the January meeting of Westmeath County Council.

Ms McQuade issued the warning as she set out details for councillors of what is involved in a partnership arrangement that Westmeath County Council is entering into with the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. Bees are important polllinators.

“The plan essentially is a strategic document which sets out a series of actions that we can take to help reduce the decline in pollinators,” Ms McQuade told the meeting.

She said that signing up to the plan would commit the council to one or more actions in the first year and after that, at least three actions a year for five years. Ms McQuade stated that the council is already supporting the ethos of the All Ireland Pollinator Plan through the Westmeath Biodiversity Action Plan 2014-20, and the Westmeath Heritage plan 2018-23.

Green Party member Cllr Louise Heavin, speaking in support of the pollinator pla, said she looked forward to seeing the council implementing even more actions to support pollinators.

Fine Gael’s Cllr John Dolan also supported the call and said he hoped the biodiversity crisis predicted did not come to pass. He said that as a farmer, he was aware of the importance of the bee population and that farmers are trying to be as environmentally friendly as they can.

“We are sometimes portrayed as being the bad person in this, but that could not be farther from the truth,” he said. “We are the people who are minding the countryside.”

“I think this is a wonderful plan, I’m glad to see it before us today,” said Labour’s Cllr Denis Leonard, adding that an old motto stated “when the bee dies, we all die”.

Fine Gael Cllr Tom Farrell spoke of the importance of getting the message out to young people in schools, while party colleague Cllr Frank McDermott said that he had no difficulty with the plan generally, but there had to be “an element of common sense” about it.

Support came too from Fianna Fáil Cllrs Aoife Davitt and Frankie Keena.

Council cathaoirleach, Paddy Hill, complimented the council’s environment section on the work it has done in this area to date, but bemoaned the fact that farmers don’t get credit for the work that they do in terms of preserving the environment.

Cllr Hill remarked that he was pleased recently to see a number of goldfinch back in north Westmeath, but was sad to note the demise of the corncrake.