The fight against the bee disease, varroasis, which has been discovered for the first time in Ireland, is to be co-ordinated from the midlands. The incoming president of the Irish Beekeepers' Association, Mr John Donoghue, of Walsh's Island, Co Offaly, plans to establish just how widespread the disease is in Irish hives.
This will mean encouraging Irish beekeepers who are not involved with local county organisations to join up or attend meetings to find out how the disease can be prevented from spreading.
The disease is caused by the parasitic mite varroa jacobsoni, which preys on honey bees by feeding on their blood. It has been confirmed by the Department of Agriculture and Food in two hives in Co Sligo, and the task now facing 2,000 beekeepers is to prevent its spread to the rest of the country.
While the Department of Agriculture and Food has placed restrictions on the movement of bees, hives or equipment into or out of the Sligo-north Mayo area, Mr Donoghue believes the more information available to beekeepers about the disease the better.
"We know there are a lot of people in the country who keep bees but are not members of the association, and what I would like to do is invite these people to come along and listen to what experienced people have to tell them," he said, adding that, contrary to common belief, varroasis does not totally destroy hives.
"We have been abroad to countries like Germany and France, where they have been dealing very successfully with the problem for over 20 years."
The mite was first identified in the 1970s and spread quickly throughout Europe, North and South America and north Africa, arriving in Britain in the early 1990s.
The first outbreak was discovered in 1992 in Devon, and since then it has spread throughout England and Wales, reaching Scotland last year. Ireland was one of the few places in the world free of the disease until it was discovered a fortnight ago.
"They have developed treatments which can control the infestation and limit the damage caused by the mite to the young bees in the hive."
In the early stage, the low number of mites normally has no obvious impact on the colony, and are extremely difficult to detect.
However, when the mite numbers increase, this ultimately causes the colony to collapse.
Mr Donoghue and his colleagues fear that unless every hive in the country is inspected by experts the true level of infestation will not be known.
"We know that once the disease becomes established it cannot be eradicated. We want to move immediately to put controls in place to minimise the damage."
The disease could not have come at a worse time for Irish beekeepers as the country's 22,000 colonies have had a difficult spring due to the weather. Beekeepers are hoping the weather will improve so bees can build up a store of honey from the hawthorn and clover crops.
An open day on varroasis will be held on Thursday, July 2nd, at the Teagasc station in Clonroche, Co Wexford.