Press Releases
Dublin Bus celebrates World Bee Day with 250,000 native Irish Bees
20 May 2025
· Five hives now located on two sites
· 250,000 native Irish Black Bees at peak in summer
· Volunteer-led, Dublin Bus employee initiative
· Produces 500-1,000 jars of honey per year
Dublin Bus is celebrating World Bee Day today, and now has a quarter of a million bees at peak in summer spread across five hives and two depots.
The initiative was originally proposed by long-serving Dublin Bus mechanic Paul Granger, a keen bee-keeper himself. Dublin Bus management loved the idea, and supported Paul to get the hives set up in some waste ground located at the back of the Phibsboro depot.
The bees are Native Irish Black Bees, a species that is in increasing need of support. They forage as far and wide as the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin and the Phoenix Park. Back at the hive in complete darkness, the do a ‘Waggle Dance’, which tells the other bees where they have found food, how much, and where it is located in relation to the sun.
Dublin Bus spokesperson, Blake Boland, said that ‘this is a fantastic initiative being driven on a volunteer basis by our employees like Paul and Irwin. We didn’t hire an external team to come in. It’s just our employees, who have a passion for bee-keeping and want to play their part in supporting Dublin City’s biodiversity.’
Dublin Bus is keen to support Paul, Irwin and other employees in expanding the hives to more depots. It is part of a wider effort to enhance their sustainability. They harvest wastewater from rooftops, and the roll out of more than 100 electric buses all plays its part in fighting climate change and the biodiversity crisis.
The honey that is produced is harvested to use as feed for the bees over winter, and into jars that are typically raffled off to lucky employees. In a good year, it will yield the equivalent of close to 1,000 jars. Dublin Bus is keen to stress that this is not for profit. They do it because they want to support passionate employees, and to play their part in supporting biodiversity in the communities that they serve.