At our AGM in 2022, the threat of Asian Hornet was discussed with the following motion passed. The following MOTION was passed unanimously.
This AGM acknowledges the danger posed to Irish honey bees and native pollinators by Vespa Velutina, the Asian hornet. This AGM urges DAFM officials, the Government, and Waterford City and County Council, along with other local authorities:
- To immediately embark on a public awareness campaign. Such a campaign will help to ensure that when fertilised queen Asian hornets arrive here, and it is only a matter of when they do, they may be more quickly and correctly identified, and consequently, may be prevented from establishing secondary nests and becoming established here, as they have in Europe and the Channel islands, etc.
- That beekeeping groups around the country be formed into Asian Hornet action groups, primed to act appropriately when an Asian Hornet is spotted. (This has worked successfully in the UK and Jersey. Existing networks such as the IBA and NIHBS, FIBKA, and the UBKA could be used for networking for this purpose.)
- That this AGM requests that the Irish Beekeepers’ Association CLG, take the lead on this and contact other beekeeping organisations and the DAFM, to put such a network into being.
Photograph shows Education Officer Colette, carefully holding an Asian Hornet, during a recent fact finding trip to Galicia, Spain, with the Atlantic Positive Project.
The Asian Hornet’s sting is quite venomous and can cause a serious reaction.