Man due in court charged over Dublin Airport drone activity

James Cox

Updated 7.30am

A man is due in court on Friday, charged in connection with drone activity at Dublin Airport on last month.

The man will appear at the Criminal Courts of Justice.

He was arrested on Thursday for an alleged offence contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

It comes after there were 16 disruptions to flights at Dublin Airport over the three-day St Brigid's bank holiday weekend due to drones, despite it being illegal to fly a drone within 5km of an airport.

On Tuesday evening, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Jack Chambers met with the DAA – the operator of Dublin Airport – as well as the Irish Aviation Authority, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána.

He said that the DAA made two recommendations on what action the State should take: introduce technology to signal-jam or bring down drones safely, and increase the maximum sentences for people who illegally fly drones over airfields.

Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy had on Tuesday argued that Dublin Airport should be made liable for costs to an airline if it did not ensure the airport was drone-free, but DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs said that the matter was State-wide, and the patrolling of drones lies more under the remit of the departments of Justice or Defence than Transport.