People are being advised not to feed garden birds during the summer months because of the threat of disease.
The advice was issued by Birdwatch Ireland to combat the spread of trichomoniasis.
The disease, which spreads through garden bird feeders, has already had a serious impact on Ireland's finch family.
Birdwatch Ireland is advising people not to feed birds during the spring and summer months.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Niall Hatch of Birdwatch Ireland, said feeding birds in the garden between May and October is thought to do more harm than good.
He said: "Up until now people have always been doing things right. Birdwatch Ireland's advice has always been that feeding birds year-round is okay.
"But we are changing that now because of this disease trichomoniasis…which affects finches in particular.
"We know that garden feeders now are a vector for this, particularly during the warmer months of the year, which allows this disease to survive and thrive and pass the infection on.
"It gets to the point where we are seeing between May and October feeding birds in the garden is thought to do more harm than good."
He said Birdwatch Ireland has seen an increase in the disease over the last 20 years, possibly a new strain of it, affecting these finches.
Mr Hatch said the populations of greenfinches and chaffinches have "plummeted" in many areas of Ireland due to the disease.
"This is a bird disease; it is no threat to humans or indeed any mammals.
"None of us can catch this, it is for birds and is not related to bird flu, it is a completely separate disease," he said.
He said it is spread through the saliva of the birds and that food in bird feeders can get contaminated with the disease and then it spreads.
Mr Hatch said it causes swelling in the throats of birds, leading to them being unable to swallow and then starve. He added that there is no cure for birds who have it.
