Meet the Wicklow resident who quit job to campaign for her bee-loved
What began as a hobby for County Kildare-born Yvonne Johnston has grown into her most passionate cause as reporter David Medcalf discovered
Zach, Yvonne and Archie Johnston at their apiary at home.
Yvonne Johnston is well accustomed to campaigning. The 43-year-old resident of Newcastle, Co Wicklow used to work in public relations. She spent some time on the staff of Fine Gael. Campaigning is what she does. And these days, instead of campaigning for clients or for a political party, she is campaigning for apis mellifera mellifera – so good, they named it twice.
Apis mellifera mellifera, hereinafter referred to as AMM, has done a pretty good job of looking after itself for many thousands of years without the support of campaigning humans. However, AMM – also known as the European black bee – is being undermined by foreign invaders whose presence in Irish gardens and meadows poses a real threat to biodiversity. The topic of how unthinking hive owners have diluted the native Irish stock by bringing in queens from Europe is top of Yvonne’s agenda. She rushed to explain how she and hundreds of like-minded comrades, North and South, want government action to ban the imports.
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