New airspace restrictions will be introduced in Cork on Friday, significantly reducing the ability of drone operators and enthusiasts to fly their devices over large parts of the city without providing two days’ advance notice.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has announced the temporary restrictions, which will remain in force until May, but has begun consultations to make the restricted zone permanent.
Currently, drone operators are free to fly at varying heights across the city and wider Cork area, with just two major red zones in place that do not allow flying. These red zones surround Cork Airport and Cork Prison.
However, the IAA will expand these red zones temporarily from February, with this area now spanning across Douglas, Cork city centre, the Docklands, Mayfield and Ballyvolane from the hours of 8 am to 10 pm.
This means that from next week onwards, drone operators will have to request permission from Cork air traffic control to fly their drone two days before they intend to do so.
Announcing the measures, the IAA said that while it currently allows for Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations – those being drones with a pilot looking directly at it – to fly over Cork City, a temporary geographical zone would be put in place to allow for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drones without a direct pilot looking at it to fly in this airspace.
The IAA said the temporary restrictions on VLOS systems would be to ensure the safe conduct of BVLOS operations over the city.
BVLOS is when an operator does not maintain a visual line of sight of their drone. Only a handful of drone operators have a license to fly BVLOS.
Currently, there are no BVLOS operators in Cork, but it is understood that this will change following the new measures.
One such company with a BVLOS license is drone delivery firm Manna, which has previously expressed interest in expanding its operations to Cork.
Last month, the chief technology officer of Manna, Alan Hicks, said the company hoped to be operating across the country by the end of this year.
The move by the IAA has sparked criticism from some drone operators who say the change helps only a small handful of companies at the expense of many essential services.
It has also prompted concerns that emergency services reliant on drones will not be able to use them when needed.
“This will have serious impacts on the likes of Missing Person Search and Rescue, the Coastguard and the Civil Defence, just as a few examples,” says Bob Foley, director and accountable manager of Cork-based company Engineers With Drones.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Foley said that from next week, anybody who operates a drone in Cork City without ATC permission, whether it be photographers, young children, or any other recreational users, will be automatically breaking the law.
“It’s very hard to see who was consulted on this before the decision was made,” Mr Foley says.
“While the IAA has provided a technical reason for the move, it has not justified why BVLOS operators are being favoured here over regular drone users.”
“It would be like if an autonomous car company wanted to use Cork roads to test out its product, which meant no other cars could now use them.”
The IAA is now conducting a targeted consultation of airspace users on its proposal to make these measures permanent in Cork City to support BVLOS operations. The deadlines for submissions is 5pm on March 14, 2026.
The IAA has been contacted for comment.
