LIMERICK CITY AND County Council has said it’s investigating how best to deal with a swarm of bees that has engulfed traffic lights at a pedestrian-crossing junction in the city centre this afternoon.

Swarms of bees are common at this time of year. As colonies become too large, a queen may leave — accompanied by hundreds or likely thousands of worker bees — to try to find a new hive.

It’s likely the swarm had stopped at the lights while on their way to or while trying to find a new home, and may have been discommoded by a thunder storm overnight.

Persons were reported to have fled in fright when the swarm grew into a giant ball of bees this afternoon.

The swarm is located at the junction of Catherine Street and Roche’s Street.

A passerby said: “People were enjoying their coffees and the fine weather outside the cafes on Roche’s Street and then everyone was going bananas, because inside on the lights there is a queen bee and the bees are all swarming inside it.”

“Everyone was avoiding the bees on the street – it was nuts.”

“Once they are swarming around the Queen they won’t harm you, so to speak, as they’re too engrossed in the Queen, but if you go up to them and start annoying them then you might be in trouble, but that would be your own fault,” the man said.

“I believe a beekeeper is being called, I literally saw people running away scared and screaming, it looks like something out of a movie.”

“A lot of motorists were stopping in traffic looking at it and all their windows were being wound up because the bees could, I suppose, get into your car.”

A spokesman for Limerick City and County Council said: “We are assessing the situation to decide what action needs to be taken.”

The Council had also reported the matter to Swarms.ie – an online resource to contact a beekeeper which describes itself as “Ireland’s honeybee rescue network”.