A Dublin event is taking place today (14 June) to show how local government can utilise drones in areas such as civil defence, emergency response, public safety and environmental monitoring.

The event is part of a Dublin City Council (DCC) initiative to accelerate the potential of drone technology across Ireland. Coinciding with the event was a report launched today on international best practices and future trends in drone technology.

The project, called Accelerating the Potential of Drones for Local Government, the project is supported by the Irish Aviation Authority, the Local Government Management Association and Maynooth University.

Led by DCC’s Smart Dublin team, the project has established a network across multiple government agencies at local and national level, while informing policy makers on the best practices emerging around the world.

Launching the report, Minister of State for Public Procurement and eGovernment Ossian Smyth, T.D, spoke positively that organisations have come together to think about the applications of drone technology and “map out how we can all collaborate to maximise the benefits of these technologies”.

The event today showcased potential use applications for local government, with Maynooth University delivering a demo of a tethered drone for emerging services. Multiple VTOL and hybrid drones were on display, with various sensors such as radar, gas sniffers and multispectral cameras.

“Drones are being deployed globally by local governments, fire services and emergency responders to deliver significant benefits to communities,” said joint author of the report, Philip Butterworth Hayes. “We are just at the start of this revolution happening in our skies.

“Increased technology advances will make it possible to automate and scale these services globally, while it’s only a matter of time before we see passenger services being rolled out.”

One of the exhibitors at the Dublin event was Irish drone delivery start-up Manna. In April 2021, Manna secured $25m in a Series A funding round last year, as it pushes to expand nationally after its controlled delivery operation in Galway.

As part of the report, the results of a national omnibus survey found that 84pc of the 900 respondents felt positive about drone technologies. 67pc were confident that drones could be delivering mail by 2025, while 55pc felt the same about takeaways deliveries.

However, there were concerns in certain areas, with 75pc of respondents citing the important of trust, 54pc of privacy and 50pc on safety, when implementing drone technology.

“As we start to consider how we scale these operations it is critical that we continue to do so in a way that builds trust with our communities,” DCC chief executive Owen Keegan said. “I’m delighted to see the Smart Dublin team drive this project with the support of such a wide range of collaborators across industry and academia.”

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