Greens leader calls for urgent meeting on drone use as Deliveroo launches airborne service
GREEN PARTY LEADER Roderic O'Gorman has called for an urgent meeting of authorities to discuss regulations around drone use for commercial deliveries.
It comes as online food delivery platform Deliveroo announced it will be initiating air deliveries using drones provided by drone operator Manna which has been delivering food items weighing 4kg or less for over a year in Dublin 15.
The move gives customers in the area the opportunity to avail of extra fast food dispatch from leading local restaurants including Musashi, WOWBurger, Boojum and Elephant & Castle, arriving in as little as three minutes and at a speed of up to 80km/h.
The new service will begin with a trial phase in the coming days and will be available to people within a 3km radius of Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
However, Green Party leader and Dublin West TD Roderic O'Gorman, who first raised his concerns in the Dáil in February, has renewed calls for a discussion on commercial use to involve major public stakeholders due to complaints from constituents.
He wrote to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport to request it holds an 'urgent session' on the deployment of commercial drones for air deliveries.
Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman.
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
'This is suiting Manna and it's suiting Deliveroo, but I'm not sure if it's suiting the wider community,' O'Gorman told
The Journal
in relation to complaints made by some locals relating to noise and privacy concerns.
'I asked that we'd urgently look to convene a meeting and bring in Manna, bring in Deliveroo, bring in the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to actually regulate drone use, and bring in the Department of Transport as well.'
He expressed frustration at the delay in the publishing of a report by the Department which, he was told in February, would focus on developing a policy framework around drone use.
'That was in February. That really needs to be published now.'
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He concedes that there are positive uses for drones in society, but hopes for a discussion on regulations to achieve a satisfactory solution for both sides of the debate.
'I see there's a role for drone deliveries [of] maybe medicines in more rural areas,' he said.
'I just think we have to have a discussion about that balance between what's good for a company versus what's good for society.'
But Manna, an Irish start up from entrepreneur Bobby Healy, insists noise is 'not going to be an issue'.
Healy spoke to
The Journal
last year where he brushed off concerns about noise polution.
'Right now we're flying 50 metres here in Blanchardstown and we can take it up a little bit higher, but we don't really need to,' he said.
'That's what we have done in Balbriggan, we do it in Texas. So that's not going to be an issue over time.'
CEO of Manna, Bobby Healy, beside a delivery drone at the operations hub in Blanchardstown town centre.
The Journal
The Journal
Healy added: 'We're an Irish business, everyone knows us, we're welcome here. Literally everyone is cheering us on, they want it to work.'
The IAA said Manna is legally permitted to operate its services within Ireland due to 'a complex 'specific' regulatory category' requiring authorisation recognised in all EU member states.
The regulation is enforced by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and includes requirements for drone operator registration, pilot certification, and specific operational rules depending on the drone's class and the area of operation.
The Irish Times
wrote about the frustrations of Blanchardstown residents
, one of whom said the noise was 'like living close to a helicopter', while another said they had to quit working from home due to the noise levels.
Drones have gained increasing popularity in recent years as content creators, explorers and even civil bodies like An Garda Síochána employ them as a method recording footage otherwise impossible to get.
They have also seen an uptick in use by event organisers putting on impressive light displays depicting moving figures made up of thousands of synchronised drones fixed with lights.
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