Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister. It is good to see a bit of a move away from the gobbledegook that has dominated the answers I have had so far on drones. The indecipherable regulation-speak reflects the paralysis and powerlessness large sections of my community feel when they are in their homes and gardens listening to the drones above them. Dublin West is being used as a test ground for commercial drones making food deliveries. There have been 170,000 flights in the past 12 to 18 months and that figure is set to soar. There has been no direct consultation with our community and no meaningful complaint mechanism. The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, oversees the regulations we have but those are risk-based. They have no teeth when it comes to the impact of drones on residential areas. When we build homes we do not just focus on structural specifications but their place in a community. If we want to erect a bus shelter, there is a planning process. The regulations need to be expanded urgently to cover noise, flight paths, schedules, consultation, feedback mechanisms and investment in public information, because currently it looks and sounds like a free-for-all. The U-space regulations give me the most hope for dealing with that.

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