New Beehives Introduced At Cork Campus

To mark the last World Bee Day on the 20th of May, TELUS International Ireland introduced two beehives to their Cork campus.

Apis mellifera mellifera, the native Irish honey bees were introduced as the company bid to protect local biodiversity. Working in tandem with An Beach Dubh, a beehive management service, they introduced 60,000 bees to the Mahon headquarters.

This partnership between TELUS and An Beach Dubh is a part of an initiative to repopulate urban areas with native, healthy bee colonies and to heighten awareness of the necessity of bees. This installation will also see the production of 40kg of natural honey over the next year.

TELUS International Ireland is also part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, the aim of which is to create meadows and habitats for bees, which it is doing in its Mahon car park, having planted berry bushes for birds and pollinator-friendly flowers in its garden.

Miriam Manning, HR Director at TELUS Ireland said, “Embracing the value of green spaces is a key mission of our Cork campus, and we are delighted to take that further by working with An Beach Dubh to protect native bee populations.

She also said. “Mahon is not only where we work; it’s where we live and engage, and we want to play our part in protecting and enhancing it.”

There is a video detailing this process along with images taken showing the process.

The Necessity of Beehives

Ciara Parsons (left), Séadna Mac Giolla Coda (right) Credit: TELUS

Working on this was Ciara Parsons, Horticultural Therapist at Telus International Ireland, she said “As part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, the garden at our Cork campus is already full of bee-friendly wildflowers and we are certain our new hives will be happy and healthy in their new home.”

She also said, “Our team places huge pride in our gardens, and the arrival of these beehives will make our outdoor projects more sustainable than ever while enhancing biodiversity outside of our campus too.”

Working with her was fourth-generation beekeeper, Séadna Mac Giolla Coda, founder of An Beach Dubh. He will be carrying out regular wellness checked and maintenance as well as giving beekeeping demonstrations to the staff members over the next year.

He said “Irish bee populations have been declining since 1980 as increased development has led to habitat loss. As bees are such important pollinators, this could be devastating for food production and biodiversity.”

As Séadna said, and according to Pollinators’ website, more than half of Ireland’s bee species have undergone substantial decline since 1980, the distribution of 42 species has declined by more than 50%. Ireland currently has 21 bumble species, four of which are endangered and two are vulnerable, and two species have become totally extinct in the last 80 years. This initiative can help aid our population of bees to stay healthy and plentiful and redistribute some of the populations to more urban areas.