LAST UPDATE | 5 Jun

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.”

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.”

This afternoon, a spokesperson for Manna said that it has been positively received in Dublin 15 while it has been operating there for the past year, adding that its drones “offer a faster, safer, cleaner, and more affordable alternative to road-based delivery”.

It said the service uses less emissions and avoids the road-safety risks experienced by bike and van couriers.

It said that out of 170,000 deliveries in the area, it has received 77 complaints to date.

“We take every concern seriously as part of the community and continue to improve our service,” the spokesperson said.

Most recently, we began rolling out quieter propellers that reduce cruise-flight noise to 59 dBA—noticeably quieter than typical traffic outside a home, which averages between 70 and 75 dBA,” they said.

They claimed the idea that Manna is unregulated is “simply false”.

“We employ 120 people, including 30 in Dublin 15. That’s only been possible because of the clear, high standards set by regulators in Ireland and Europe.

“Strict aviation regulation has allowed us to safely build one of the world’s leading drone delivery operations. Manna operates under strict oversight from both the Irish Aviation Authority and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)—the same body that oversees commercial airlines.”

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.