O’Gorman calls for regulation of delivery drones

A bill designed to regulate the use of commercial drones from Green Party Leader and TD for Dublin West Roderic O’Gorman will be debated in the Dáil this afternoon.

In advance of the debate, Deputy O’Gorman highlighted the concerns that people have over the increasing use of these drones, often used for the delivery of takeaways, in residential areas:

“The commercial use of drones, and in particular those takeaway delivery drones, are becoming more frequent around the country. 

In my Dublin West constituency, a company delivers hundreds of take away meals and coffees every week. While this is really convenient for some residents, others have worries about noise, privacy, the impact on wildlife and safety issues. 

So the bill I’m bringing forward today is an effort to start the process of regulating the commercial use of drones, in the public interest.”

Deputy O’Gorman continued:

“Last year, the Government published its Drone Strategy, which, in my view, completely failed to deal with issues around drone use with the urgency that is required. 

I am pleased to have the opportunity to propose the Regulation of Drones Bill 2025 on the floor of the Dail as an effort to try and fill some of the current gaps in regulation which the Government have failed to address.”

The bill will introduce regulations including:

• A new requirement that compels the Minister for Housing and Planning to contain a section about the regulation of the commercial operation of drones when they publish a National Planning Statement
• Require that each city and county council would also contain objectives about the effective management of commercial drones. The new section provides that the objectives must ensure that the commercial use of drones is prioritised in favour of operations in the public interest, and provides a list of such operations.
• Finally, to address the issue of noise pollution, the bill will allow any person make a complaint to the District Court with respect to noise pollution from drones

Apart from noise and privacy concerns, Deputy O’Gorman has also outlined environmental concerns:

“Birdwatch Ireland have said that drones can have detrimental effects on nesting birds.

We are seeing drones operate at scale in Dublin 15 - hundreds of journeys every week. And I and others need to understand that this level of traffic in the skies is having a negative impact on our wildlife. That is why there needs to be a national policy on when and where drones can be used.”