Kildare politicians told to buzz off by the county council

It’s a certainty that you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar - but nobody told Kildare County Council.

There was little sweetness in the air as the  local authority effectively told two of its own members to buzz off.

You could say that the council set a honey trap by allowing the request to get on to the agenda - but they then made a bee line in the opposite direction.

That beekeepers should be appointed across County Kildare was the thrust of a request by two Labour councillors - queen bee Anne Breen and worker bee Mark Leigh. 

Each of the councillors had a bee in their bonnet.

They wanted these to be sanctioned to  “retain a designated beekeeper in each municipal district to assist estates taken in charge with the swarming and colonisation of bees during the swarming season May to August.”

It sounded like the bees knees - one of those motions that we’d all approve of in our unrelenting march to save the bees.

But a hostile swarm was assembling  deep within the bowels of Aras Chill Dara and, of course, there was a sting in the tail.

KCC official Alan Dunney said that the council does not operate a beekeeping service.

But he proffered a spoonful of honey with the observation that a service is however provided by a collective association of beekeepers across the country who  collaborate and operate through the www.swarms.ie website. 

He bee waxed lyrical, adding this facility if for whoever is reporting a bee swarm “to available and local beekeepers in as timely a fashion as possible”

And he suggested that this resource could be promoted through local community groups, resident associations and tidy towns committees.

Cllr Leigh said there was a bee swarm incident at a residential area in Athy and Cllr Anne Breen said another at Bishop Rogan Park in Kilcullen meant people couldn’t open doors or windows.

It’d be enough to give you hives.

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