Flights resume at Dublin Airport after drone activity grounds all planes

 Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Flight operations have resumed at Dublin Airport this evening after having previously been disrupted by drone activity.

In a statement on Twitter, the airport said operations resumes just before 7pm after all flights were cancelled a half hour earlier.

Three flights were diverted to other airports, "discommoding passengers as a result of this reckless and illegal activity", they said.

Group Head of Communications for Dublin Airport, Kevin Cullinane said upon sighting of the drone, An Garda Síochana were immediately contacted.

The flight operations remained inoperable for half an hour, and resumed at 18.59 this evening after a confirmed drone sighting suspended operations at 18.27.

This is the latest in a number of drone incidents at Ireland’s largest airport in recent weeks.

There were several days of disruption to flights earlier this month also.

A spokesperson for daa, the operator of Dublin Airport added: "Drones causing disruptions at airports is a state wide issue that needs to be tackled with new legislation, a State agency responsible for managing counter drone technology and harsher sentences."

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary called upon Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to fix this re-occurring issue, saying: “It’s unacceptable that more Ryanair flights and hundreds of passengers have again suffered disruptions and diversions as Dublin Airport is now closed for a 6th time in 6 weeks by drones. 

"Transport Min. Eamon Ryan has failed to take any effective action to protect Dublin Airport and his strategy of holding “meetings” is useless. As always Min. Ryan promises “stronger measures” but delivers nothing," he added.

"Min. Ryan should explain why other European airports have effective drone measures in place but Dublin Airport keeps being closed, while he is asleep on the job. Sadly, our Transport Min. is all talk and no action when it comes to drone closures. As Transport Min. he should now fix this issue or resign and let somebody more effective do the job,” the statement read.

In a video posted to the airline's Twitter account, Mr O' Leary described the situation as "unacceptable", calling Mr Ryan "incompetent" in his role as he fails to prevent this issue over the past five weeks.

"Minister Ryan, it's time to stop talking, stop sitting on your hands and do something useful for a change", he adds.

Mr O' Leary asks that the Minister takes viable action and encouraged customers with delayed flights to hold Mr Ryan accountable, in contacting him about the disrupt caused by constant drone strikes.

A spokesperson for Aer Lingus commented on the disruption, saying: A step change in urgency is required from the key stakeholders charged with managing this critical issue (Dublin Airport, the regulator and Department of Transport). 

"Processes and technology are urgently required to prevent these events happening in the first place and to minimise the disruption if they do happen. This is the third drone incident in a matter of weeks, creating a level of disruption that is both concerning and unacceptable.”