Launching the partnership at Fitzmaurice Place in Portlaoise. Picture Alf Harvey.
Laois County Council has become the latest local authority to sign up as a partner in the All Ireland Pollinator Plan.
The Plan is a cross-sector initiative, led by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, with local authorities, farmers, businesses, schools and local communities, to support pollinators including Ireland's 98 bee species, one-third of which are threatened with extinction.
Partner organisations are those that have committed to delivering some of the 186 actions in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025.
Laois now joins a growing list of local authorities, non-Governmental organisations, semi-State companies, academic institutions and businesses which have agreed to take action to help Ireland’s pollinators. Action for pollinators is already underway across many sections of Laois County Council.
Listed below are just some of the recent initiatives being led by various sections in the Council including Roads, Environment, Heritage, Sports & Recreation and Community.
The Local Authority Pollinator Award aims to encourage Tidy Towns groups to implement pollinator-friendly actions in their towns and villages as part of the Tidy Towns competition It supports the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and is coordinated and sponsored by the Heritage Offices and Biodiversity Offices of Local Authorities across Ireland, in partnership with the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
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Pictured are: Catherine Casey, Laois Heritage Officer; Juanita Browne, All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Project Officer with the National Biodiversity Data Centre; Simon Walton, Director of Services LCC; Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Catherine Fitzgerald MCC; Angela McEvoy, Senior Planner LCC; Joe Delaney, Director of Services LCC and John Mulholland, Chief Executive Laois County Council at Fitzmaurice Place, Portlaoise to mark the partnership between Laois County Council and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Welcoming the partnership.
“I am delighted to welcome the new partnership between Laois County Council and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. We will work to support the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan through our work with communities and local authority projects and I look forward to seeing the positive results of this partnership,” she said.
Chief Executive of Laois County Council John Mulholland said
“We know that Ireland’s pollinating insects are under threat, with one-third of our 98 wild bee species at risk of extinction. Laois County Council will work to address this in partnership with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, using their evidence-based actions to make public land more pollinator friendly. Actions range from reducing grass-cutting – to allow wildflowers to grow on public lands, to protecting nesting sites and reducing pesticide use. We know that the biodiversity crisis and climate change in Ireland are closely linked, and this new partnership ties in well with our current actions for Climate Change across Laois”.
Juanita Browne, All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Project Officer with the National Biodiversity Data Centre looks forward to working with Laois.
"We're delighted Laois County Council has signed up as a formal partner to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. The Heritage Office at Laois County Council has been running pollinator projects for many years as well as being instrumental in establishing the Local Authority Tidy Towns Pollinator Award, encouraging both local authority staff and Tidy Towns groups to manage their public spaces in a pollinator-friendly way.
"Laois County Council has proven that many small actions can have big impacts for biodiversity, and we look forward to working with them in the coming years,” she said.
If you would like to find out more about actions for pollinators in Laois or how to become a “pollinator-friendly community” please contact the Laois Heritage Office, heritage@laoiscoco.ie.
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