Just three years ago, Jim Gavin was Chief Operating Office in Ireland’s Aviation Authority, a did a long piece on RTE News warning people not to fly drones without permission.
Gavin if went so far as to actually fly a drone himself on what looked to Sandymount beach, lecturing about dangers and fines etc for flying a drone without the necessary requirements in certain areas.
Fast forward to this week, and Gavin has been forced to explain how his campaign flew a drone without permission as part of his campaign video – you couldn’t make this stuff up!
A photo featuring Fianna Fáil presidential hopeful Jim Gavin alongside the Defence Forces’ Chief of Staff Rossa Mulcahy was removed this evening from Mr Gavin’s social media campaign accounts, reports RTE.
The image had been captured earlier today during an event hosted by the ONE group, which advocates for the welfare of former Defence Forces personnel.
By regulation, the Chief of Staff is prohibited from publicly endorsing political candidates or making political statements, reports RTE.
A spokesperson for Mr Gavin’s campaign explained tonight that daily footage is recorded and that all photos and videos undergo continuous review and may be edited as needed.
“Jim participated in this event as he does frequently,” they said, reports RTE.
This follows recent remarks from Fianna Fáil presidential contender Jim Gavin, who stated he did not observe a drone flying during a park run in Dublin last weekend.
In a statement this morning, a Fianna Fáil representative confirmed that a drone had been used at a park run last Saturday in Porterstown. The drone operator, they said, was “not aware” that the location required prior approval for drone activity, reports RTE.
Addressing the issue today, Mr Gavin told reporters that had he noticed the drone, he would have inquired whether the operator had obtained permission to fly in the area.
He further explained that although he had seen the drone footage prior to yesterday, it wasn’t until then that the matter of proper clearance was raised, reports RTE.
He said that at that point, he requested the drone operator to file a “voluntary occurrence report”.
Jim Gavin added that in aviation, when errors occur, the focus should not be on blame but on identifying and learning from those mistakes.
He expressed confidence that the drone operator had taken the incident as a learning experience, reports RTE.
“Mistakes are made, we simply learn from them. I’ll make mistakes in this campaign. That’s life, I’m human. We simply learn from it,” he said, reports RTE.
He also mentioned that his campaign team would audit previous drone usage to ensure all operations adhered to existing regulations.
This clarification came after Fianna Fáil admitted it was an “oversight” that drone footage had been captured of Jim Gavin during a park run held in an area where drones are restricted unless explicit permission is granted, reports RTE.
The park where the footage was taken is designated as a UAS geographical ‘red zone’. In such zones, drone operations are only permitted with prior clearance from the relevant local authority.
However, despite Mr Gavin’s position as chief operations officer of the Irish Aviation Authority—which places him in charge of aviation safety in Ireland—no such clearance was sought before the footage was used in his campaign, reports RTE.
In a statement released this morning responding to a report in the Irish Independent, a Fianna Fáil spokesperson said: “The registered drone pilot was not aware that this was a UAS Geographical Zone where prior permission was required from the local controlling authority.
“This was an oversight on the drone pilot’s part. As soon as Jim became aware of the oversight, he asked the drone pilot to submit a Voluntary Safety Occurrence Report via the European Aviation Safety Portal. This is a proactive measure to allow the IAA to collect and analyse information to help improve our air safety,” reports RTE.
The spokesperson stressed that air safety was never compromised and that all appropriate steps were subsequently taken.
Debate over the misuse of drones has grown in Ireland in recent years, prompting tighter regulations about where and when drones may be operated, reports RTE.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he believed the drone operator involved in the video featuring Jim Gavin was unaware the park was off-limits for drones.
“The drone operator didn’t realise the park was prohibited. He’s registered. The incident has been notified through the portal and I think it was an honest mistake,” reports RTE.
Appearing on RTÉ’s News at One, Julie Garland, CEO of drone pilot training company Avtrain, stated that currently no drones are authorised to fly over gatherings of people.
“An assembly of people is not a specific number of people, it’s where people are so closely packed together, they would be unable to avoid the consequences of the failure of a drone,” she said, reports RTE.
“Therefore, it’s not a specific number of people, but if there’s an assembly or a group of people together, you’re not allowed to fly your drone overhead that group of people,” reports RTE.
Ms Garland noted that Mr Gavin may not have been aware that the drone operator lacked the proper credentials to fly the drone over the event.
“The reality is that Jim (Gavin) was participating in the middle of a race, and you would make an assumption that if an operator is flying a drone at an organised event, they would have the appropriate qualifications in place,” she said, reports RTE.
Ms Garland pointed out that there are multiple avenues available to those with concerns about drone activity.
“There’s a portal called ECCAIRS, which is the European Coordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting. Any member of the public can make a report through ECCAIRS, as well as licenced operators, pilots and any industry professional. You don’t have to register, as a user you can go on and make a safety report,” she said, reports RTE.
“We do have remote IDs on any drones that are flying. A member of the public can download apps, so if there is a drone flying and they want to identify who the operator of that drone is, they can download an app on their phone, things like Dronescanner, there’s a few different ones available out there. There’s a signal radiating from that drone. If they have any concerns, they can record that and they can then make a report to either the gardaà or the Irish Aviation Authority,” she added, reports RTE.
In other news today, Independent presidential hopeful Catherine Connolly highlighted the hunger strike being carried out by survivors of industrial schools outside the Dáil.
During Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Deputy Connolly noted, “for 11 days now four people have felt they have had no choice other than to go on hunger strike”, adding she is “extremely worried for those women and men”, reports RTE.
She referred to the demonstrators as “courageous people”, and said: “Nobody in your Government met them until Monday, I understand. There’s a mean-spirited approach from Government and the previous government in relation to redress for people who have been in institutions.”
Fine Gael’s presidential candidate Heather Humphreys has refuted claims that Tánaiste Simon Harris requested she withdraw the controversial Green Paper, reports RTE.
The Green Paper, a 47-page document released by the Department of Social Protection in 2023, proposed changes to how disability benefits are distributed.
The paper was widely criticised upon publication.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Ms Humphreys stated that she independently made the decision to withdraw the document.
“I decided that myself. And can I just say, I have worked very hard for health carers and disabled people,” she said, reports RTE.
“The Green Paper was only ever a consultation document. It came on foot of a cost of disability report, which clearly said the people who have profound disabilities incur more cost,” reports RTE.
Ms Humphreys emphasised that Mr Harris had no involvement in the decision, explaining that she reversed course after receiving “genuine concerns” from the public.
“I did consultations. I met people. I talked to people. I went around to many different meetings to hear their views,” she said, reports RTE.
“There were genuine concerns out there on the Green Paper. So, I did not proceed with it, and I think it was better that I listened to people and acted on what they told me,” reports RTE.
Ms Humphreys reaffirmed her support for Ireland’s stance on neutrality, though she acknowledged the country must adapt to global changes as an EU member state.
“It is important that the EU is able to defend itself and when I look at what’s happened in Ukraine only last Saturday night there was a massive drone attack – and but for the support that Germany and other countries are giving to Ukraine there would have been a massacre of people,” reports RTE.
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