PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)

I rise today to discuss a topic of particular interest to me as a commercial beekeeper, and that is the response to the positive identification of an Asian hornet nest in Cork during recent months. After the positive identification of an individual Asian hornet, it took two weeks to find the location of the nest using the traditional triangulation method. Now, while that method did work, the process could have, and should have, been gone through in a matter of an hour had the most up-to-date Robor Nature radio signal technology been at hand and employed. After the nest was located, its destruction was delayed by a further staggering three weeks due to the lack of appropriate expertise and PPE. In the late summer and early autumn months, each colony can send out up to 300 gynes or queens. After winter and in the following spring, each of these can begin its own new colony. How many queens left the colony in Cork to begin new hornet colonies next year? What are we going to be dealing with next spring and in the early summer because of our slow response to the first colony this summer?

The next thing I want to do is not look back but forward to next year in respect of derogation licences. In Ireland, the release of any specimen of a non-native or invasive species can be carried out only with a delegation received through the NPWS. Hornets’ nests are located by catching an individual hornet, putting a radio signaller on its back and letting it fly to its mother colony so it can be tracked; however, it cannot be released with that radio device on its back without a derogation license from the NPWS. It currently takes two weeks to get that licence. I call for measures to be put in place now, before next spring arrives, so derogation licences for the release of individual Asian hornets for the purpose of tracking their parent colonies may be acquired retrospectively. Thus, whoever is carrying out the process will be able to get on with their work and obtain the licence afterwards. It is very important that no time be lost in this process.