Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the Government has a strategy to ensure that supports are available to new forms of aviation, such as drone technology. [9258/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Flying and operating drones in Ireland is subject to European Union Regulation 2019/947. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) currently supervises and implements this Regulation in Ireland.

The Department of Transport is directly responsible for developing the national policy framework for drones, including supporting growth and innovation while managing safety, security, and privacy aspects.

Funded through my Department, Enterprise Ireland's research, development and innovation programmes including the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund are also available to enterprises developing new forms of aviation and drone technology.

Ireland has over 100 companies active in space development technology and these companies are actively supported by EI through their European Space Agency (ESA) membership. While developed primarily to meet the challenges of space travel, membership of the ESA also requires that these technologies have wider applicability including in the aviation industry.