Official Asian Hornet update here from the NBDC Invasive Species Team Lead.
Many thanks for your time yesterday and for your continued support of our efforts to ensure Ireland remains free of the Asian Hornet. All organisations involved are committed to eradicating this invasive species from our shores.
Media reports
We are aware of media reports released in the last hour. These should not be taken as a reflection of the situation on the ground. We are investigating how these stories came about and hope to understand more in due course.
Management of the nest in Cork
As discussed, our operational window for controlling the nest found in Cork opens on Thursday and will close again on Sunday. We expect everything will fall into place for the safe and effective control of this nest, along with the subsequent recovery of the nest for analysis. However, we are not taking this for granted. We are planning everything diligently and carefully, and double-checking our efforts. This is the first time a nest has been found in Ireland, and it is only right that we take a robust approach, so lessons are learned and applied to future incursions.
We are also planning genetic sequencing for the Cork nest and other samples we find around Ireland.
Monitoring will continue
After the management of this nest, monitoring in Cork will continue until we are certain this is the only nest in the city. We would greatly appreciate the continued vigilance of beekeepers in the area. As we all know, beekeepers are most likely to spot the Asian Hornet, but we will also continue our efforts to raise public awareness of this species.
Dublin sighting
As discussed, the sighting in Dublin is from the Inchicore area. Later today, I will share with you the “Inchicore Area Alert” poster, which we will use in a targeted way on social media over the coming days. This alert is dated today, and we will maintain this alert until we are satisfied that no nest is present in the area.
If further verified sightings or a nest are confirmed, a response will be mounted, as you would expect. Monitoring has not identified any further Asian Hornets in the area, and our engagement has also not brought forward any additional reports.
Cobh area
Our awareness-raising efforts are working. Yesterday, we verified a report made to the Data Centre from the Cobh area on 1 September. Since then, NPWS Rangers have already begun initial monitoring of this area. Our plan of action is to continue monitoring for the presence of the Asian Hornet. However, we are also preparing to track any hornets using tracking technology, should we confirm a population. If a population is confirmed, we can then control the nest.
We remain committed to a coordinated and robust response and I look forward to updating you further as our actions develop.
Best wishes,
John