Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. He is right that this is new. It is a service that could have real potential. I am thinking of a medicine delivery to a constituent in the Minister of State's constituency from a pharmacy that might be a significant distance away. There is real potential here. I am a bit concerned, however, about the Minister of State's response. One of the lines in it is that commercial drone delivery operations are heavily regulated. They are not, or the regulations are not touching the concerns people have, which I have outlined. Planning is not properly regulated. There is no clarity as to whether a drone base needs planning permission. It is a live issue in my local authority at the moment. This idea of a data impact survey in terms of the assessment, again, is a very technical piece but does not deal with the question whether we know if that drone camera is on or off as these regular flights are taking place.

In terms of the statement that drones are dynamically routing away from more densely populated locations, these drone bases are in the centre of Dublin 15, an incredibly densely populated part of our city. They only work in this area. There is no diverting away from the densely populated area. They work there. This company, Manna, is about to start undertaking deliveries in two or three other parts of Dublin city as well. I am not doing this as a criticism of the company; I am just raising these issues. The Minister of State is going to have TDs from other areas raising these issues with the Department. I am concerned that the response at this stage is very high level. It is about the EU regulation but that is not dealing with the real issues for people who experience these drones operating over their homes when they are not ordering the burrito. It is not dealing with their particular issues. I advise the Minister of State, as his Department brings forward this policy framework, that it cannot be high level. It will have to deal with issues like privacy, safety, noise pollution and the planning status of drone bases. I thank the Minister of State for his time.

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