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The skies above Cork · Ireland

A dialogue between sky and home.

We’re not against drones. We’re asking to be asked — for a transparent, accountable say before routine commercial drone flights are routed, all day, over the homes, streets, parks and public spaces below: the places we live, walk, work and gather.

Who we are

A community campaign — volunteers, not a lobby.

A commercial drone delivery network is being rolled out over residential communities in Cork and Dublin. Since 2025, a service operated by Manna has flown over Dublin 15; since February 2026 it has operated from the Marina Market in Cork — mostly takeaway food and drink, over the same homes, all day.

We are volunteers from the communities living under these operations. After a series of resident and community meetings, we came together to research the issues, monitor complaints and concerns, engage with public representatives, and help make sure the people living in affected areas have a say in what happens in their skies.

Our aim is simple: provide clear information, support residents, and advocate for meaningful community involvement in how drone delivery is planned and run.

It’s us today — it could be you tomorrow.

Drone delivery hubs are expanding fast, and new operations may soon reach communities across the country. What our neighbourhoods are living with today could be over your home tomorrow.

Commercial delivery drones now fly over parts of Cork and Dublin through a process residents were promised, but never given. Here is what that looks like from the ground — and where the evidence is still missing.

50–80 m
The altitude band these deliveries fly — and it’s measured above sea level, so over raised ground it’s often closer to you than it sounds.
~15/hr
Passes residents report at peak — the same overhead event, dozens of times a day.
650+
Public submissions to the IAA’s most recent airspace consultation — most about noise and privacy.
3
Planning refusals of Manna hubs in Dublin alone — on noise and public-health grounds.
Welcome back — you last chose your area. Continue →
Choose your area

Where are your skies?

Pick your area to see what’s happening near you — what’s live right now, the action that matters most, and your local group.

Cork Cork city & suburbs Ballincollig, Blackrock and the southside. Where a live IAA airspace consultation and a council enforcement notice are in play. See Cork Dublin Dublin 15 & beyond Blanchardstown, Coolmine, Castleknock — and proposed hubs in Tallaght and Dundrum. Where planning refusals are landing. See Dublin Everywhere else Elsewhere in Ireland Not flown over yet, or somewhere new? The petition is national, and we’ll help you watch for corridors and start a local group. Ways to take part
See it. Hear it.

What a pass actually looks & sounds like.

Numbers describe it; footage shows it. A few seconds of a real delivery drone over an Irish garden — the size it makes in the sky, the sound it brings, and the way you hear it before you see it.

Footage coming soon — drop a clip at assets/pass-cruise.mp4
A cruise pass overhead.
Footage coming soon — drop a clip at assets/pass-delivery.mp4
A delivery hover and descent.

Residents’ own footage, used with permission. For the measured noise levels behind these clips, see One delivery, many homes.

Check your area

What does a delivery over your street actually look like?

See the flight corridor modelled over your home — how many homes a single delivery passes over, and how loud it is at ground level — based on published Trinity College Dublin acoustic measurements of the Manna drone. It also shows the other side of the same trip: how many separate households hear one coffee or takeaway arrive by air.

Enter your address See a worked example How visible is it overhead?

A modelled estimate calibrated to peer-reviewed TCD research (Nash & Kennedy 2024) — not a regulatory compliance assessment.

An Irish garden at dusk: swallows and a bat in flight over a pond and hedgerow, foxgloves in the foreground, a small delivery drone in the distance.
Environment & wildlife

The sky below isn’t empty.

Low passes can flush nesting birds and raise their heart rates; bats forage less where there’s noise and movement overhead. All Irish bats are strictly protected — and the legal threshold is disturbance, not harm.

Because the 50–80 m altitude is measured above sea level, over raised ground the real height above a nest can fall into the band where disturbance is strongest. Almost every study so far looks at occasional survey flights — not the same gardens flown over every day, all summer. That gap is the heart of the case.

Read the wildlife & law brief →
Check your area

The route is over your home by design.

Commercial drone paths are planned to avoid roads, motorways and railways. Under the ground-risk rules, that pushes them the other way — over the quiet residential ground where people live: back gardens, yes, but also balconies, courtyards, parks and the space between homes. You don’t need a garden to sit under the corridor — flats and apartments do too. That ground plays no part in the delivery; it’s simply the quietest line to cross.

How visible is it overhead? →
YOUR HOME

It’s not one flight. It’s the same flight, all day.

A single pass is loud for about thirty seconds — bearable, until you count. At the frequency residents report, that’s the same overhead event dozens of times a day, over the same homes.

1delivery overhead
~15passes an hour at peak
100sacross a daytime, every day

We’re not the only ones raising this

200+ at a Cork meeting

A May 2026 public meeting on Cork’s southside drew more than 200 residents to discuss drone deliveries.

650+ submissions

The IAA’s Cork airspace consultation drew more than 650 submissions — most about noise and privacy.

3 refusals in Dublin

Fingal County Council has refused Manna planning permission three times; existing hubs were dismantled.

On the public record

In refusing the Coolmine hub, the council found it “results in serious noise pollution” and is “prejudicial to public health.”

What we’re not saying

We’re not anti-technology, and we’re not calling for a ban. Delivery drones have genuine uses, and some neighbours value the convenience. We take no position on drone technology in general. Our concern is narrower, and we think reasonable: routine, low-altitude commercial overflight of the places we live and gather — homes, streets, parks and public spaces — at scale, every day, without a transparent say for the people below, and without a published assessment of the impact on people and protected wildlife.

What we’re asking for — calm, and specific.

i.

A say before, not after

A transparent, accountable process before routine corridors are routed over homes.

ii.

Published assessment

Noise, route density and ecological impact measured and put on the public record.

iii.

Protection for what’s below

Children, homes, gardens, parks, and the birds and bats the law already protects.

What you’ll find here

We built this site as a community resource — information on the noise, visual and environmental impacts of drone delivery, and the tools to share your view. Wherever you start, there’s a way to add your voice.

The noise impact

Understand drone noise levels, how a single delivery is heard across thousands of homes, and how to picture the impact over your own street.

See the noise impact →

Environment & wildlife

What the peer-reviewed evidence says about low overflight, birds and bats — and the protections already written into law.

Read the brief →

Share your experience

A ready-to-send template to put your experience on the record with Manna and request a geoblock over your Eircode.

Use the template →

The policy gap

The transparent process the State promised, the timeline it set itself, and the zones being granted ahead of it.

See the gap →

News

Media coverage, Dáil discussion, planning refusals and IAA decisions from across Ireland.

Read the latest →

Have your say

Five things you can do today — from adding your name to writing to your TDs and objecting to planning.

Find your way in →

The sky over our communities should be decided with the people beneath it.

Add your name to our petition Ways to have your say
Contact us

Get in touch

Questions, your own experience, or want to help start a group in your area? We’d love to hear from you.

droneactioncork@gmail.com
Add your name