I have published a Dáil bill to regulate drones

Drones have a value in our society, but they are a really new technology, and there has to be rules about how they work.

Today I’m publishing the first piece of law designed to regulate commercial drone use in Ireland.

This bill has two key functions.  

Firstly, the bill makes it clear that drone bases need planning permission, and that each local authority area needs to have a policy about commercial drone usage contained within its development plan. Right now, there is confusion as to whether planning permission is needed with a drone base is being created. My bill will clarify this.

Secondly, the bill changes the law so that local authorities can regulate noise pollution coming from drones. Right now, S.108 of the Environmental Protection Act stops local authorities regulating noise from “aircraft”, which includes drones. My bill would change this, so that drones operating in neighbourhood airspace could be the subject of noise pollution complaints.

You can read a bit more about this in the Irish Times this week.

Questions about planning and noise are two of the biggest issues people raise with me about commercial delivery drones. I’m proposing to amend the law, so in future people can see that any questions they have about drones will be dealt with in a fair and transparent way.

The Government had the opportunity to act to address the concerns that people have, but the National Framework Policy for Unmanned Drone Systems that they published in August was deeply disappointing. It contained no clear commitments to introduce laws to fill the existing gaps in regulation.

I will be tabling the Drone Regulation Bill 2025 in the Dail in the next two weeks to fix these gaps. I hope the Government will support this common sense piece of legislation.