Mr. Thomas Curran:

I thank the committee very much for the invitation to appear here and share the experiences of Dublin City Council's with the UAS drones ecosystem in urban areas. The Cathaoirleach has introduced me and my colleagues.

Dublin City Council has been using drones to aid the provision of our services for the last eight years or so. The primary users of drones within Dublin City Council are the survey and mapping division, Dublin Fire Brigade and the Civil Defence. The main uses of drones within Dublin City Council are the production of topographical surveying, mapping, production of 3D models, emergency response, dangerous building-roof inspections, flood defence monitoring, search and rescue and video and photography for our media office. The use of drones has resulted in significant improvements in staff safety, especially in and around dangerous buildings, a reduction in time on site and, importantly as well, the improvements in our cost efficiencies.

Dublin City Council produced a Drone and Urban Air Mobility 2024–2029 strategy that highlights the potential of the emerging drone sector for Ireland and recognises Dublin City Council’s role in supporting the wider ecosystem and building capacity for innovative services within the public sector.

The strategy states that scaling these services will depend on public trust, awareness and early engagement to address concerns around safety, privacy, noise, and environmental impact, ensuring long-term acceptance and benefit for communities. One of the key components of the strategy was the creation of a dedicated corporate drone unit based within the survey and mapping division, which supports services mentioned previously - training requirements, management of drone equipment, regulatory knowledge and overseeing any relevant procurement processes.

Dublin City Council has been collaborating and exchanging knowledge with other European cities through being a member of the Urban-Air-Mobility Initiative Cities Community, UIC2, and the POLIS Network, which are key European platforms supporting cities in the safe and sustainable integration of drones and urban air mobility. UIC2, under the EU Smart Cities Marketplace, helps local authorities align drone initiatives with public needs and EU policies, while POLIS promotes knowledge exchange and policy development to ensure drone use supports wider urban air mobility and sustainability goals. We are also members of the recently created Irish public service drone network, a group set up to share knowledge and experience among local authorities and other public service organisations.

As with many new and emerging technologies, Dublin City Council will continue to explore and examine how these can enhance service delivery and benefits to citizens in accordance with the corporate plan and the Dublin city development plan. We are in the process of arranging further engagement and consultation around drones in the city and plan to host a series of community engagements to discuss issues outlined in the near future.

Dublin City Council, through its smart city and survey and mapping units, established a drone innovation partnership with Maynooth University and the IAA in October 2024, which is co-funded through Research Ireland. The objective of the partnership will be to shape the future of drones and urban air mobility as well as playing a key role in providing the basis for regulated integration of innovative technologies such as drones into the daily lives of the citizens of Dublin and Ireland. The main workstreams of the project are a digital platform, stakeholder engagement, demonstrators and the governance framework.

There has been a lot of media coverage over the past while. Dublin City Council recognises that the commercial use of drones, such as for deliveries, is a complex and evolving situation as the technology itself is moving so fast. There is no published policy, legislation or guidance at a national level for local authorities and this creates significant challenges. For clarity, no commercial drone delivery companies are operating over the Dublin City Council area. Dublin City Council is aware that there are drone delivery companies operating in the greater Dublin region. Dublin City Council's planning and transport planning teams confirm that no planning applications in relation to drones have been lodged with Dublin City Council to date. I have included in my submission links to the strategy, information on the drone innovation partnership project and short videos.