John Kelly, the invasive species programme manager at the National Biodiversity Data Centre, told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne there was a report from a member of the public of an Asian hornet to the southeast of Cork city.
Mr Kelly said subsequent efforts led to the capture of a second individual hornet in the same area.
“We are now following the exact same plan that we put in place for Cork city, to monitor the area and we will soon begin the tracking of hornets to see if there is a nest in that general area.”
He said there is a chance these hornets are strays from the first nest, however the probability of that is low and the “suspicion” is that there is a second nest.
An Asian Hornet. Photo: A O’Hanlon/National Museum of Ireland
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – September 4th 2025
“I know in Cork there was winds from I believe it was from the northwest over the weekend. So, there is a small possibility that the winds blew hornets of course, but that’s not what we think is going on in the area.”
There has been one individual sighting of a hornet in the west of Dublin city.
“What we believe is happening there right now, and this is our best evidence because we’re not getting any reports in from the public with photographs that we can verify, and our monitoring network is not picking up any hornets in the area as well.
“We’re leaning towards the fact that is a single individual that may have got access to Ireland over a ship.”
The response to the hornets is being treated with urgency, Mr Kelly said, due to the possibility of queens leaving a nest and establishing a new one.
“We are in a race against time, but we do have enough time in our hands to manage this situation.
“I think it’s quite possible that they will start emerging any time over the next couple of weeks, really. That’s when my risk awareness for that goes up.
“But again, it still means that we can control the nest as well.”
Mr Kelly said there is a possibility the hornets could nest in attics or cowsheds, however this is “unlikely” based on evidence from an invasion of the hornets in England.
Sightings of Asian hornets can be reported via invasives.ie