Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gardaí would be able to operate this in limited circumstances. We are not talking about flying drones indiscriminately over people's houses. This would be for a very specific circumstance and prior authorisation would be required from a senior member of An Garda Síochána. The code of practice would have to be adhered to and the drone would have to be operated by a trained member of An Garda Síochána. There is oversight of all of this. I was given the example of where footage of a serious road traffic collision is captured to try to get a sense of what is happening and get a full picture of the scene which would not be possible from the ground. Another example would be a hostage situation. There are a number of different scenarios but this will be used in limited circumstances. As I said, by their nature, these devices can fly over thousands of houses but that is not the information being sought. Gardaí will have to adhere to the code of conduct. Any change to the code of conduct would have to be done publicly and people will have an opportunity to contribute to that process.