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SEVERAL POLITICIANS HAVE hit out at Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s handling of recent drone disruptions at Dublin Airport.
Flight activity in Dublin Airport was briefly suspended on Thursday evening due to illegal drone activity at the airport, the sixth such incident so far this year.
It is against the law to fly a drone within five kilometres of the airport and daa has condemned the recent incidents as drone activity as “reckless and illegal”.
Minister Ryan will bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the issue with senior members of Government.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week in Politics this afternoon, Education Minister Norma Foley said: “I don’t for one minute underestimate the extraordinary challenge and difficulties and indeed frustrations that are being visited on everyone.”
She added that the government is “very cognizant of that” and noted that “gardaí do have the authority to gather evidence” and that “cases go to the DPP”.
Minister Foley acknowledged the need for a “more robust system” and added that that’s “what the [Transport] Minister and the Minister of State are proposed to bring to Cabinet on Tuesday”.
Speaking last week, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary claimed that anti-drone technology is a “reasonably easy” solution that would only cost around €100,000.
But on this afternoon’s This Week in Politics, Minister Foley said: “It’s important that it would be the right type of technology and that it would obviously have the correct legal framework as well. So that memo will come to Cabinet on Tuesday.”
However, Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly, who was appearing on the same RTÉ programme, said: “In the first instance, we need to get the technology into Dublin Airport to ensure that we can ground the drone.”
She also accused Minister Ryan of once again being “found sleeping at the wheel”.
“The delay [in dealing with this issue] is absolutely too long. Minister Foley talked about perhaps people are a bit frustrated. It’s a bit more than that now.
“It is incredibly important that it [Dublin Airport] can function and also that people can book a flight for business or for pleasure and know that they can do that with confidence.
“At the moment, they cannot do that and that is on Minister Ryan. Once again he has been found to be sleeping at the wheel.”
O’Reilly went on to claim that Minister Ryan is “always reacting, never being proactive and that’s driving people mad”.
“The government needs to get ahead of this,” said O’Reilly. “We’ve had six interruptions in Dublin Airport in this year alone and the government now are going to have a chat and do a bit of a memo.
“This is really something that they could act on, they could act on it quickly, and yet we don’t see any appetite at all from them.”
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett agreed with O’Reilly the technology should be in place.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary that this wasn’t even seen ahead of time,” he told This Week in Politics.
“We’re always behind and then it takes ages because we don’t know who’s responsible for what, it’s absolutely crazy they don’t invest in the technology,” he added.
Meanwhile, when Independent TD for Wexford Verona Murphy was asked if he “dropped the ball” regarding the drone disruptions, she replied: “I don’t think he ever picked up the ball and I think that’s the point.”
She added: “We don’t have a national security strategy and it is a national security issue.
“It happened in London airports, planes were grounded for three days, in which case it never happened again.
“The Taoiseach’s department is actually the department that’s responsible for our security strategy.
“We shouldn’t have commercial disruption, we need to protect our airports, we need to protect people flying in this country for business.”
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Just ban the sale of them. Treat them like a firearm, license holders or pros only.
@Fuji Hakayito: Congratulations! You have taken the bait, just what we need another tax or licence to allegedly address an issue.
In this instance, for an issue that is limited to airports and for which a number of commercially available technological solutions exist.
But hey, let’s punish everyone for the actions of a few muppets rather than just punishing the muppets that are actually flying drones within 5 km of an airport..
@David Van-Standen: you don’t have to punish everyone. Get a license to operate one.
@Fuji Hakayito: Introducing a drone license would be a financial punishment for the majority of people, for the actions of a very small minority of muppets, who are currently, or will be before the courts for their own actions.
@David Van-Standen: financial punishment? WTF? I Don’t even know how much my drivers license costs.
@Fuji Hakayito: backwards thinking
I wonder if on the days leading up to and including St Patrick’s day there are numerous cases of drone activities around Dublin Airport and all our Ministers were delayed heading off on their “official duties” to the 4 corners of the world would legislation get rushed through and approved
Eamonn Ryan is permanently asleep
These politicians are great for criticising the government for acts by reckless individual citizens, even though they are devoid of solutions to the problem.
@Don Hogan: the solutions are there, the government are just to slow to implement them
SF looking for a nice one liner to get media attention once again..
@Ciaran: You mean like Ryan hires Rambo to shoot down the drones. Open to correction but has not Ryan ten advisors and two chiefs of staff? . Perhaps he needs another advisor who is an expert on Drones . Christ you need no one liners to criticise that hapless Ryan.
@Donal Desmond: the more advisers a minister the more of an incompetent they are
Should of course read RYAN
Everyone knows Ran is T**CK. but the DAA arn’t blameless !!! They open a very contoversial runway and not one of the genius’s think ” We might get a bit of a backlash from this”
@Alan Dignam: Dublin airport has been around for a lot longer than most of the urban settlements around it. Buy a house near an airport, expect it to expand and develop.
@Fuji Hakayito: And expect one of the disgruntled misguided residents to buy a drone and play silly beggers.
@Alan Dignam: he or she will hopefully be locked up for a year or two when he or she IS inevitably caught. I look forward to them trying to justify their actions in court before being dragged off to a cell.
None of them have yet done anything about this, ever. Reads as if every other politician is eager to repeat purchasing mistakes this century as fast as possible.
Remember this headline?
“THE Government has sold the infamous €54m e-voting machines for scrap — for €9.30 each.”
Source:
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/54m-voting-machines-scrapped-for-9-each-26870212.html
Let them choose the best one for the job., even if that does mean doing a bit of investigation first.
Why don’t the media ask him why he didn’t sign us up for RePowerEu?
They had plenty of time to sort this problem out every other Airport had these same issues we sit on our hands and get nothing done when will the learn
Surprised it’s only now and due to drones that he’s under scrutiny…
Asleep at the wheel, the man has never woken up. Stiff jail sentences to anyone putting aircraft in danger
Just put Michele O LEARY in charge all sorted in a week drone gone
Somobody mentioned a tax on them-now that’s sure to get Eamonn’s attention!!!
Shoot them down. Simple solution.
@Kathleen Callaghan: and the possibility they’ll fall on a child or through a car window. Jesus wept!!
ALL politicians are narcissistic, self serving corrupt humans with little or no conscience. Career goal is to get that luscious pension. He’s not sleeping at the wheel, he doesn’t even know where he is half the time. My Ryan is no worse or better than any of his elitist colleagues
@Roibeard Ó Riain: Did he not promise most Green Party members a job if they voted to go into Government?
Please ban everything and put me in a holding pen. Take my home, my vehicle and my children. Liquidate my assets and keep everything. When this is complete revive my likeness form social media via an advanced ai so I can never know peace.
‘Fly me to the Moon’ the Green Party Anthem, and I say please do ! and leave them there.
Did not know He Had A Steering wheel on his Bike
Anyone ever think the drones suit his anti-pollution leanings by keeping aircraft grounded?……….Nah……it’s just paranoia getting the better of me……or is it?
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