A small number of sightings of potential Asian hornets’ nests are being investigated by the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS).
However, Ireland still only has one confirmed nest, the chair of the Asian Hornet Management Group, Áinle Ní Bhriain, has said.
Contrary to press reports, Ms Ní Bhriain said, there is no evidence of any others in Ireland aside from the one detected last month.
“The one confirmed nest in Cork is being dealt with over the next few days. Our operational window is opening today. Obviously it is weather-dependent but we would hope to have that all removed and dealt with in the next 48 hours or so,” she told the Neil Prendeville show on Cork’s Red FM.
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“The other sightings – absolutely we are following up on every single sighting but we have no evidence that there is any other nest as such. A nest would be a much bigger thing. There has been sightings and the NPWS is following up on every single one.”
She said the National Museum was going to do DNA testing to assess whether the hornets come from the same nest, the exact location of which has not been revealed.
“It is quite technical and we will be doing a whole battery of tests on it.”
Ms Ní Bhriain also spoke of the importance of recovering the confirmed nest intact as opposed to destroying it.
“There is so much we can learn from it. Like how did they get here? What stage of development is the nest at? At the moment we think that they are still only building the nest but there is a lot of stuff that we can learn from this first nest that will help us for future encounters,” she said.
[ How to recognise an Asian hornet and what to do Opens in new window ]
“Destroying it tells us nothing.”
Once the Cork nest is removed, NPWS staff will continue monitoring the area to “catch any stragglers”.
“If you remove the nest they will return to the nest site and they will start rebuilding.”
An expert is travelling from the UK to “monitor and mentor” the process of taking the nest down.
“We are learning our lesson from the Continent. The best advice is to get ahead of it and that is why we have reacted so quickly to this sighting,” Ms Ní Bhriain said.
She repeated warnings that the Asian hornet posed a risk to native pollinators and biodiversity.
“If one hornet can get in to a [bees] nest it will just decimate the nest. It destroys and eats everything around it. It will attack all of our pollinators. I have even seen footage of it trying to have a go off a wasp. It is predatory. They are voracious. The level of damage they can do in a small amount of time is significant.”
