>Tom we have got the same situation in the U.S.. You need to start
convincing
>your officials that a importation from the U.S. agriculture department to
>the Irish agriculture department would be far different than general
>importation.
>
>Show the officials the article in ABJ (Aug. 2002  pg. 591) about the
>quarantine procedure the U.S. uses.
>

Hi Bob

The Irish have quite an advantage over us here in the US when it comes to
things pertaining to beekeeping. At Gormanston, the Secretary of
Agriculture opened the conference, complete with bagpipes. He delivered a
great speech which showed an increadible understanding of beekeeping. True,
he must have gotten help with the speech, but he clearly understood the
basics of beekeeping inside and out. Also, as I found in South Africa,
countries with small populations (Ireland about 4 million) have polititians
which are more accessible than what we have here.

I think perhaps a greater challenge to the Irish being able to import
outside genetic material is a pervasive believe in Irish bees having
everything genetically necessary to top beekeeping in Ireland. There is
also a strong believe that keeping the Irish bee genetically pure is
important. I doubt that there will be a strong push for liberalizing
importation rules.

Regards
Tim Vaughan