93. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport if he will publish the national policy framework for unmanned aircraft systems before the summer recess; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34142/25]
Sentiment score: 0.01
My question is whether the Minister will publish the national policy framework for unmanned aircraft systems, UAS, that is, drones, before the summer recess. As part of that, will he implement U-space regulations that have been applicable in EU states since 2023? U-space provides for the creation of a new, dedicated airspace for drones. It is essentially a traffic management system that could play a critical role when it comes to the proliferation and impact of drones flying over residential areas.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I thank the Minister. It is good to see a bit of a move away from the gobbledegook that has dominated the answers I have had so far on drones. The indecipherable regulation-speak reflects the paralysis and powerlessness large sections of my community feel when they are in their homes and gardens listening to the drones above them. Dublin West is being used as a test ground for commercial drones making food deliveries. There have been 170,000 flights in the past 12 to 18 months and that figure is set to soar. There has been no direct consultation with our community and no meaningful complaint mechanism. The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, oversees the regulations we have but those are risk-based. They have no teeth when it comes to the impact of drones on residential areas. When we build homes we do not just focus on structural specifications but their place in a community. If we want to erect a bus shelter, there is a planning process. The regulations need to be expanded urgently to cover noise, flight paths, schedules, consultation, feedback mechanisms and investment in public information, because currently it looks and sounds like a free-for-all. The U-space regulations give me the most hope for dealing with that.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I am aware that there are polarised views and I am also aware of the benefits. My concern is also timing. A corporate entity operating in a space without sufficient regulation will not have the duty of care to communities that is required, and we are seeing that already. A commercial operator in our area is claiming it has received 77 complaints about 170,000 flights, but I would have had that number of complaints in the past seven weeks. Companies are operating within the regulations but that does not make it right. We cannot have a situation where the horse has bolted without the legitimate concerns and rights of residents being addressed. That is just bad planning. I imagine it would have consequences under the Aarhus Convention. If U-space is the answer to getting the balance right, then the IAA needs the funding and resources to implement it now and certainly not in 2030, as some of the replies to parliamentary questions suggest. While I have the Minister, and maybe a one-word answer would suffice, the legal barriers to DART+ West have been cleared. Will he progress the project and funding it as soon as he can?
Sentiment score: 0.07
101. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport to provide a breakdown of the investment made in enhancing existing bus services in Dublin West from 2020 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34143/25]
Sentiment score: 0.01
My question is to ask the Minister for Transport to provide a breakdown of the investment made in enhancing existing bus services in Dublin West from 2020 to date. A handful of routes – four in total – have been introduced under BusConnects, mainly to replace existing services, and one new route called the W4. While we await the full implementation of BusConnects in 2026–27, our existing services are really struggling with demand.
Sentiment score: -0.18
I thank the Minister. His numbers are the same as the ones I got through a parliamentary question dealing with capacity issues in each of the years 2020 to 2024. Seventeen million euro in that time had been invested in launching new bus routes in Dublin West, but, as the Minister said, just €1.6 million has been spent on enhancing existing bus services. That discrepancy tells its own story. The €1.6 million that has been spent on enhancement has been patchy. According to the NTA, nothing was spent on enhancements to existing services in Dublin West in 2023. A year before that, in 2022, spending was a grand total of €97. I would love to know what €97 was spent on. There has been some increase since then. In 2024, €407,000 was invested in enhancing existing bus services in Dublin West. That is a fraction of the nearly €2.9 million spent on new routes. It reflects the reality that people are experiencing. It is just not enough when it comes to the growth and demand in established communities, which is most of Dublin West, and the growth of new communities while we wait for BusConnects.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I would appreciate the Minister's intervention because I find those figures shocking. We cannot wait until BusConnects is implemented in Dublin West, which could be 2027. The Minister mentioned services for Hollywoodrath, including the 37 and 38. I have fought for those enhanced services. Underinvesting in existing services ignores the commuters in established communities who want to shift to public transport. We have seen more than 2,000 new homes built in the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart local electoral area over the last five years. Many have been in a completely new area called Hollywoodrath. The Minister was there with us.
Sentiment score: -0.07
There were no new bus services and limited enhancement of the existing ones. Last week, the Green Party had a motion calling on the Government not to put the brakes on progress, but under a Green Party Minister, our community saw a decline in the reliability of its services. I am depending on the Minister to take the opportunity to change that. While BusConnects is promoted as a transformative project, and it will be, we have to properly invest in expanding and improving the services that people currently rely on in the here and now.
Sentiment score: 0.34