Safety and privacy concerns have been expressed by residents and public representatives about a Dublin food delivery drone operation planning to deliver to homes further afield following an extended trial.
Manna has been using drones to deliver food in Dublin 15 since early last year and has said, in response to criticism, that it applied the most rigorous safety standards at noise levels significantly lower than cars.
It has lodged a planning application to expand its delivery services beyond its delivery area around Blanchardstown so it can cover Tallaght, southwest Dublin.
The company also plans for its drones to take off from an existing structure in an industrial estate in Glasnevin, on the northside of the city, where it says planning is not needed. It hopes to offer drone delivery from these locations within weeks.
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A decision is expected shortly, but residents in Dublin 15 have cautioned against more delivery drones in the sky.
Seamus Doyle, who lives in the area where the delivery operation has been running, said it had created “an unwelcome noise overhead” several times an hour for much of the day.
“The sound in my garden is louder than if a car was actually passing through the garden itself,” he said.
Another resident described the drone deliveries as “loud invasive technologies” that affected her privacy by hovering over her back garden as the devices prepared for neighbourhood drops.
In the Dáil last week, Roderic O’Gorman said drone deliveries were “wild west territory” and he said there were “flight paths over certain estates in Dublin 15 where in an afternoon you could have 30 or 40 drones flying over and back”.
The Green Party leader said there was “real dangers of a crash between drones” if the service expanded without regulation.
In response, Seán Canney, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, said a policy framework was being developed following public consultation last year.
“I do accept this is a growing industry. We need to make sure we get in there early to ensure it is managed properly and that people’s privacy is not invaded,” he told TDs.
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Bobby Healy, Manna has developed aviation-grade drones that fly at 80km/h and can deliver goods weighing up to 3.5kg, the equivalent of a takeaway for four people, within a 3km-radius in under three minutes.
A single aircraft can do 100 deliveries a day, with up to 20 aircraft capable of being remotely managed by one Manna employee.
[ ‘We had 40 flyovers before 2pm’: West Dublin couple annoyed by delivery drones over their home ]
Over the course of the trial three incidents involving drone faults were reported to the authorities.
Cat O’Driscoll, a Social Democrats councillor on Dublin City Council, said: “My number-one priority is safety and when Manna say they have only had three incidents, that for me is three too many.”
She said the council was working on regulations around noise and privacy as well as safety, but she expressed concern operators “will go out into this space before we get a chance to set the rules”.
In response, the company said the three incidents were minor and had led to changes to ensure no recurrence.
“Community engagement is important to us,” Mr Healy said.
He also said “we have held meetings with the public and local representatives” in Dublin 15 and said it offered free deliveries to special groups including frontline staff and was running trials to deliver emergency response defibrillators.
“Our positive community engagement has resulted in two complaints in December and one in January,” Mr Healy said.
He said Manna had received 53 complaints out of 150,000 household deliveries.
“We take them seriously and will engage with them and public representatives directly on any of their concerns when brought to us as we have done to date. We believe drone delivery offers huge benefits to society and suburban life,” he said.
Manna said the three incidents investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Unit, which is part of the Department of Transport, had been “acknowledged by them to be singular, unique occurrences. Our proactive response was positively received and our safety procedures resulted in controlled landings”.
A spokesman for the department said operators had to “provide a comprehensive safety portfolio which includes assessing and addressing both ground and air risks with appropriate mitigations”.
