The skies of west Dublin are “buzzing with drones” for fast food and coffee deliveries, but these airborne deliveries will spread across the capital and the country, the Dáil has heard.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said his constituency of Dublin West is being viewed as a “test case, a large-scale experiment” in drone delivery and there must be a “national conversation” about the activity.
Local communities have raised concerns “about the noise from the machines, the safety of them, the planning status of drone bases, privacy issues” because drones are fitted with cameras, and their impact on wildlife, he said.
“BirdWatch Ireland have said that drones can have detrimental effects on nesting birds.”
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Mr O’Gorman was speaking as he introduced a private member’s Bill to regulate the use of drones, arguing that to date the State has approached the issue “completely from the wrong angle”, basing it on air traffic control considerations, without reference to the public interest.
One company is involved “but it could well be two or four or many companies very soon, delivering different things”, he said. “This is going to happen in more of Dublin, in more of our country, and we need to have a regulatory structure..
“It cannot simply be that people are told that drones are a part of life and ‘get over it’..
“Local communities have a right to democratically shape and influence how their environment is used and how that changes; that’s the cornerstone of our democratic planning process.”
The Bill, if taken up, would compel the Government to include a section about the regulation of the commercial operation of drones when it publishes a National Planning Statement.
Each city and county council plan would also contain objectives about the effective management of commercial drones, and public interest must be prioritised in their use.
The Bill also allows noise pollution complaints to be made to the District Court.
The Government will delay consideration of the Bill for 12 months, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said. Drones “present exciting opportunities for businesses in the public sector to boost productivity to improve service provision and to improve safety”, he said.
But the “rapid pace of drone innovation and commercialisation has also created significant challenges and generated real concerns and genuine concerns upon communities, particularly around the issues of noise, intrusion, and privacy”.
The national policy framework for unmanned aircraft systems was agreed by Government and published in August last year.
The framework aims to address concerns about “increased drone usage and operations in balance with the realisation of the economic and societal benefits for the emerging drone sector”.
It includes ensuring appropriate authorities “have the required regulatory powers and that they have mechanisms in place to ensure that the views of all stakeholders, very importantly including residents, are taken into account”.
Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said drones can be used “amazingly for medical issues, for topography issues, for geography, for emergency situations, delivering defibrillators”.
“But I don’t think that they should be used for commercial or fast-food delivery in highly built up residential areas. I don’t really see it as being essential.”
Labour Dublin South-West TD Ciarán Ahern said “planning permissions were sidestepped as a drone company claimed it was running a trial period” and Dublin 15 residents were treated as guinea pigs “while drone bases were established, without planning permission”.
Fine Gael Dublin West TD Emer Currie said the Government “must do more”, adding: “We have seen what happens when innovations, for example, e-scooters, come in without a robust regulatory framework and enforcement measures”.
Sinn Féin Dublin West TD Paul Donnelly said there are currently five drones operating and they could make a delivery every couple of minutes. “What will it look like when there are hundreds or thousands of drones in the sky?” he said.
