Pest control companies confirmed yesterday that the demand to remove wasps' nests or remove wasps from buildings across the country has shown a sharp increase on last year.
The majority of companies contacted said that demand for their services to deal with wasps has increased by up to 80 per cent this year.
There was general agreement that the break-up of the colonies from hives, which brings the wasps out of their nests to die, began earlier this year.
Mr Bob Lynch of the Aardvark pest control company said this was one of the busiest years he had remembered in relation to dealing with wasps.
"We have had a lot of calls, more than last year, and we are working flat-out to cope with them," he said. Milder winters had meant that hibernating queen wasps had a much better chance of surviving the winter, and so numbers seemed to be on the increase, he said.
Mr Patrick Vanbarr of south Co Dublin-based Owl Control said he had specifically advertised as a company to control wasps because of the increasing demand for the service. "It seems to me that the problem with wasps is getting bigger each year, and this year I estimate the number of call-outs to deal with wasps has doubled," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Omega company, which offers a service all over the Republic, said she, too, had noticed an increase in the number of calls to help deal with wasps' nests.
In Northern Ireland, where the problem of wasps is dealt with by the local councils, people are being forced to wait for a week for service because of the pressure for pest control in Fermanagh and Tyrone.
Trinity College zoology lecturer Mr Mark Brown said that unfortunately there was no central monitoring of wasps and insects, which meant it was not scientifically possible to state if there had been an increase in numbers. "However, if the control firms say there is an increase, they know what is going on out on the ground," he said.
Wasp numbers, he said, would increase if there was a mild winter like the last one, and where there was increased food available to them.
"The idea that global warming may be responsible has difficulties because the scientists speak of warmer winters and wetter summers, which should reduce the number of wasps because they cannot fly in wet weather," he said.
Mr Brown said wasps were carnivores, living mainly on other insects, and were therefore more dangerous to humans than honey bees or bumble bees.
"However, I tend to see them as being useful creatures who should be left alone if they are not in an area which is being used by humans," he said.
"They can deliver multiple stings, unlike the honey bee, but they tend not to interfere with people if they are left alone," he said.