Professor Tim McCarthy:

I have over 12 years' experience of drone research. We are funded primarily by Research Ireland, formerly Science Foundation Ireland, and are involved in applications and traffic management systems. Normally, Ireland ends up following other people in terms of technology and how we do things. This is probably one of the first examples of where technology has come in together with this innovation piece and conspired to present this challenge to us, so we should seize this as an opportunity instead of viewing it as a negative. Having said that, there are real issues here with which we must contend.

Regarding the drone ecosystem, what we are looking at is the wider issue involving not just technology but applications, innovation, dealing with societal acceptance, fairness and trust. The biggest one is uncertainty. With this technology and innovation coming into a close space with humans, uncertainty is hanging around. When we mix high-volume movement of drones with people, there will be issues with that. Drones out in the countryside do not really cause problems. It is only when there is a high volume of drones in cities, although I know there are other aspects we are looking at here.

There is a multiagency aspect here too. It does not just involve the Department of Transport and the IAA but also involves local authorities, data protection, environmental matters and An Garda Síochána so we must bear that in mind. When we talk about large-volume drone movements in urban areas, we are looking at traffic management systems. Some of these systems are still under development. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664 of 22 April 2021 underpins what is called U-space, which is the airspace system for drones, and that is still under development. It is worth saying that when we move into the stakeholder and wider issues, that is critical. We certainly have to do more. We have parallels and analogues to look at in Australia, Canada and the US. Canada has established a drone advisory committee, which is something we could look at. It brings in this multiagency piece, deals with these issues and has policies and task groups. Australia has a drone information website that deals with all those pieces involving raising awareness, educating people about the benefits of drones and, equally, trying to handle people's concerns. The website has a page saying "have your say".