Aviation authority to create ‘drone safety zone’ over Cork city

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is to drop controversial temporary measures introduced to facilitate food deliveries by Manna Drone Delivery, while introducing a “long-term safety zone” over Cork city.

The move comes after more than 650 people made submissions to an IAA public consultation on drone usage in the city.

The IAA said it “will establish a long-term drone safety zone over Cork city, ensuring the safe integration of drone operations”.

The authority had previously implemented temporary measures to facilitate a pilot programme by Manna, requiring other drone operators flying within visual line of sight to provide two days’ notice before flying over much of the city. Those measures are to be removed, meaning local drone pilots “will revert to the co-ordination requirements that existed prior” to the restrictions.

However, drone flights beyond the visual line of sight will still be subject to full advance authorisation.

Enforcement file

Cork City Council recently opened an enforcement file on Manna, which began food deliveries from a base in the Marina area in February. However, local authorities only have responsibility for planning matters on the ground, while the IAA is the regulatory body for airspace.

The IAA’s consultation received strong public interest, with 662 submissions received, about 95% of which came from the Cork region. Most were members of the public, with a small number of registered drone operators.

Approximately 90% of submissions related to privacy and noise concerns. However, the IAA dismissed those submissions as irrelevant.

Many submissions raised broader concerns about drone activity, which the IAA noted, but said were part of a larger national policy framework.

Separately, a national working group, led by the IAA, is to be established to develop processes and procedures around drone usage.

At this week’s meeting of Cork City Council, Labour’s Peter Horgan called for the council to seek a seat on this working group.

Niall Ó Donnabháin, the council’s director of planning and integrated development, said that membership was being discussed and considered by the Department of Transport, with detail “expected in due course”. 

Mr Horgan told The Echo there was currently a governance gap on the issue.

“It is crucial and critical that Cork City Council has a space with a seat and voice on the creation of the processes and procedures that will govern the use of drones going forward."

Greater clarity

A spokesperson for Manna said it was happy with the decision, which it said would mean “greater clarity and less friction for responsible, regulated users to fly and industry to thrive in Ireland”.

They added that recent assessments undertaken by third-party experts had found “no significant concerns relating to privacy, biodiversity, or wildlife impact, while separate acoustic analysis concluded that drone operations result in ‘little to no perceptible noise level change’ during normal operations”.

They said Manna was working with stakeholders “as part of Ireland’s broader national drone framework to support the development of a safe, responsible, and globally leading drone ecosystem”.