The country's beekeepers say Asian hornets remain a major threat to honeybees and other pollinators here despite the destruction of two nests discovered in Co Cork last summer.
Beekeepers say a national protocol has yet to be published in the wake of the find which sparked a biosecurity alert.
They are calling on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to fund as a matter of urgency specialised hornet traps and to instigate a nationwide monitoring system in time for Spring.
County Cork Beekeepers Association's chairperson Eleanor Attridge - whose members helped with last Summer's trapping of Asian hornets in Cork - said that if they are "left to get out of control in Ireland, Ireland is going to have a huge problem that there is no need for us to have".
A beekeeper for over 20 years, Ms Attridge believes Spring trapping, when any Queen Asian hornets potentially emerge, is essential.
"I really think they need to find a budget to secure enough monitoring traps - 5,000 plus in the country, enough bait for them, and either set it up themselves or with the Federation of Irish Beekeepers, where we know the location of the traps and that they are being monitored on a regular basis, and at least we have some sort of a system in place," she said.
Such is the concern locally, the County Cork Beekeepers Association have raised almost €11,000 towards a local Asian hornet monitoring system, with 190 specialised traps - similar to lobster pots - in place around the county so far.
"We set up a GoFundMe and managed to get €10,500 into the fund. We have 190 traps deployed in County Cork at the moment. Not all of those are beekeepers, there are over 100 staff in the Munster Technological University who came forward and volunteered to put traps up because of their location and where they are living," Ms Attridge said.
"There's just one chance to get this right and if the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage could disperse traps, the traps would be still there and available going forward. It would just mean whoever had them across the country would have to buy one bottle of bait for it once every two years, if it was managed correctly," she added.
Last July, a biosecurity alert for Ireland was issued when a scientist spotted an Asian hornet by pure chance in a beer garden in Cork City.
Asian hornets pose a significant threat to biodiversity as even a single nest can devastate honeybee populations.
Two nests were subsequently located - one in Cork City, the other in Cobh. Both were removed and destroyed.
In all, there were 36 sightings of Asian hornets between July and September last year. All in Cork, bar one in Dublin.
Last October, an Asian hornet's nest was discovered in Belfast with officials there echoing their counterparts' calls for increased public awareness and reporting.
Subsequent scientific examination carried out by the National Museum of Ireland on the two Cork nests appears to indicate that they were located and removed before they were capable of generating mated queens.
In a recent update, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage confirmed a response protocol is to be developed before Spring.
This is to include cross border, Ireland, UK and EU collaboration.
But for now, the County Cork Beekeepers Association continues its monitoring programme pending the promised publication of the protocol.
