Cork drones: 'Long-term safety zone’ planned for city skies

Irish Aviation Authority will drop controversial temporary measure facilitating Manna deliveries in favour of longer-term rules

A Manna Air Delivery drone in 2020. The Irish Aviation Authority authority previously put a temporary measure in place to facilitate the firm's Cork pilot programme, requiring other drone operators flying within visual line of sight to provide two days’ notice before flying over much of the city. Picture: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is to drop controversial temporary measures introduced to facilitate food deliveries by drone delivery company Manna in Cork City, but has unveiled a “long-term safety zone” for the region.

This follows a consultation process in which the IAA received more than 600 submissions drone usage in the city, the vast majority of which related to privacy and noise concerns. 

However, IAA dismissed those submissions as irrelevant. Its principal decision will be to differentiate between types of drones and their usage.

It said it “will establish a long-term drone safety zone over Cork City, ensuring the safe integration of drone operations”.

Manna Air Delivery founder and CEO Bobby Healy at Cork's Marina with a 'beyond visual line of sight' drone. The firm is expanding in Cork following its establishment in Dublin and a successful pilot programme in Galway. File picture: Larry Cummins

The authority previously implemented temporary measures to facilitate a pilot programme by Manna Drone Delivery, requiring other drone operators flying within visual line of sight to provide two days’ notice before flying over much of the city.

Those measures are to be removed, meaning local drone pilots “will revert to the co-ordination requirements that existed prior” to the restrictions. 

However, flights beyond the visual line of sight will still be subject to full advance authorisation.

662 submissions to IAA consultation  

The IAA’s consultation received 662 submissions, 95% of which came from Cork.

A spokesperson for Manna said it is happy with the IAA decision, which it said means “greater clarity and less friction for responsible regulated users to fly and industry to thrive in Ireland”.

They added that recent assessments by third-party experts found “no significant concerns relating to privacy, biodiversity, or wildlife impact, while acoustic analysis concluded drone operations result in ‘little to no perceptible noise level change’ during normal operations”. 

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