Ireland’s motorways and rail roads are about to become ‘bee-friendly’

Oh dear, if you’re someone who tends to feel a little rage at the slightest hint of a traffic diversion then you maybe will not be overly thrilled with this news. Ireland’s motorways and railways are to be “rewilded” to create bee highways.

Yes, bee highways. The highways are to be created in attempts to save the bees from extinction and their food supplies from being devastated.

The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan has been devised to encourage famers, councils, schools and gardeners to create safe-havens and pit-stops for Irish bees. One third of our 98 native species of bees face being wiped-out altogether so it is hoped these efforts will stop the imminent extinction.

Sixty-eight different organisations have been enlisted in the efforts to save bees. This includes government departments, road and rail companies, beekeepers and famer’s unions.

By next spring a map is expected to be released which will pinpoint areas good for bees to be linked via wild-flower corridors along roads.

Transport chiefs have also agreed to reduce roadside mowing on main roads and there is hopes to open south facing railway embankments for nests.

So you probably won’t be stuck facing monstrous traffic jams for the sake of a few extra jars of honey, but Ireland’s scheme will be the first in Europe to adopt a plan with such a wide range.

Meabh Boylan, green-schools biodiversity officer with An Taisce, said:

“The importance of pollinators to humans cannot be overstated. Students are always amazed when I tell them that pollinators are responsible for making approximately one in every three spoonfuls of food that we eat.”