Brexit and the Bees: Senator concerned about potential threat to bee population

Roscommon Senator Eugene Murphy has warned that Brexit could have an unexpected consequence for bees in Ireland.

Speaking in the Seanad in recent weeks, the Fianna Fáil Senator said he'd received correspondence from the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations about an English person who is aiming to import 15 million bees from Puglia, in Italy, to England.

Senator Murphy said the Puglia region had seen a serious decrease in its bee population due to a particular species of beetle which the Italian Government has been trying to eradicate.

He said that the imported bees from Italy may now be brought into Northern Ireland, as a result of Brexit, and that "bee people" in the Republic were concerned about the potential implications of this.

"We need to stop those bees being released in Northern Ireland because the fear of the bee people is that they will infect our bee population and cause enormous damage," he said.

"People may not realise the significance of bees but the reality is that one third of the world's food population depends on bees, and every third spoonful of food depends on pollination, so our bees are extremely important and we must protect them,” Senator Murphy added.

You can watch his Seanad contribution on the issue here: