Drone footage was shot without the appropriate permissions in place at two events for Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
Mr Gavin, who has previously promoted safe drone use in his role as a senior executive with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), confirmed on Wednesday that a drone shooting campaign footage did not receive the appropriate permissions when making a video of him participating in a park run last weekend.
Later on Wednesday, a Fianna Fáil spokeswoman confirmed that a second regulatory report had been made relating to drone footage that was shot at Mr Gavin’s campaign launch last Sunday, at the Exo Building in Dublin’s docklands.
The report, known as a voluntary safety occurrence report, is aimed at improving aviation safety.
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Mr Gavin said that he didn’t see the drone at the park-run event, which he participated in alongside Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
He said that aviation culture dictated that there would be no blame game and that the industry attempted to learn from mistakes.
“I’ve been involved in aviation all my life, drones are a great form of aviation, mistakes are made, we simply learn from them – managing football teams, managing teams myself, every day I’ll make mistakes in this campaign, that’s life, I’m human, we simply learn from it,” he said.
His spokeswoman confirmed that Mr Gavin was aware of the second report being submitted before fielding questions on the park-run video on Wednesday. However, he did not mention the second incident while speaking with reporters.
Mr Gavin explained that, under aviation rules, certain areas functioned like a “box of airspace,” where drones could only operate with prior permission.
Mr Gavin reiterated on Wednesday that he was not aware of abuse allegations made by the Women of Honour group in the Defence Forces during his time as a senior officer in the Air Corps. He said that while he would have been aware of “HR issues” and disciplinary cases brought against members, it was “certainly nothing to do with that horrific abuse that happened”.
Elsewhere, on a canvass in Co Louth on Wednesday, Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys said that she would start improving her Irish as soon as possible on becoming president, but declined to commit to being fluent within a year.
Ms Humphreys said she was “well capable” of writing in Irish, but speaking was difficult. “Because you’re obviously afraid that you’ll say the wrong thing and you might feel foolish,” she said.
She told reporters that she had been gifted a Bible written in Irish when she was a minister, “and I would love to be able to read it.”
“Ulster Irish is what I learned, and I’m very proud of it. It’s an old, old language, and I think our language can also be used as a way to unify people,” she said.
