Civil Defence unable to use drones till registration sorted

Rule changes relating to the use of drones mean that at present Westmeath Civil Defence is not currently in a position to operate such devices.

The subject was raised by Cllr Andrew Duncan at the December meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, where he asked that the district provide an update on its compliance with the regulatory regime.

In its response, the district explained that there had been recent changes in guidance to local authorities on registration with the Irish Aviation Authority of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operators, and that currently Westmeath County Council is “working through the registration process”.

As a result, at present the Civil Defence drones are not operational.

“I’m not so happy with that answer,” was the reaction of Cllr Duncan.

“It’s my understanding that the majority of councils have gone through this process already, I think 65 per cent or 70 per cent of them,” he said, going on to point out that in the case of an incident or accident, civil defence needs access to drones.

“This is pressing,” he continued. “If the majority of local authorities in the country have drones, why don’t we? That’s the question.”

Director of services Deirdre Reilly undertook to make contact with the emergency services about getting the registration done as soon as possible.