{"id":619333,"date":"2026-09-09T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T13:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619333\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T13:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T13:32:09","slug":"taoiseach-says-gardai-prepared-for-trump-visit-in-wake-of-reported-drone-sighting-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619333\/","title":{"rendered":"Taoiseach says garda\u00ed prepared for Trump visit in wake of reported drone sighting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Procurement of offshore counter-drone technology is \u201cbeing pursued\u201d, the Taoiseach said after a large drone was reported over the Irish Sea <\/a> days ahead of a visit by US president Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pilot of an Aer Lingus<\/a> plane reported the sighting of a large unidentified drone close to Dublin Bay at 5.20pm on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

According to a record of air traffic control transmissions, the Aer Lingus pilot reported the drone was operating at 6,000ft and was about 3km to the aircraft\u2019s left side as it flew into Dublin from Cornwall.<\/p>\n

The pilot said the drone was about \u201c10 miles\u201d from LAPMO, a navigation point near Howth in north Co Dublin, which would put it somewhere off the Co Wicklow<\/a> coast.<\/p>\n

Asked by air traffic control if he spotted any identifying marks on the drone, the pilot replied it was large and black.<\/p>\n

The sighting comes amid preparations for a large-scale security operation with Trump<\/a> set to visit Dublin this weekend<\/a> before travelling on to Doonbeg, Co Clare, where the Irish Open<\/a> will take place at his resort. <\/p>\n

Miche\u00e1l Martin said on Wednesday \u201ca lot of preparatory work\u201d had been undertaken on counter-drone capabilities ahead of the Trump visit.<\/p>\n

He said An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na had \u201cresourced the situation very significantly\u201d in relation to on-land capability.<\/p>\n

However, he added: \u201cThere is more to do offshore, and that work is under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat procurement is under way and that\u2019s a very active programme that is being pursued.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut certainly, An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na in advance of the EU presidency had secured the drone technology capacity that they required.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaoiseachTaoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Martin urged caution and stressed the reported sighting was \u201cunverified at the moment\u201d, adding that it was being investigated by the garda\u00ed and the Defence Forces.<\/p>\n

He said he expected to be briefed on the matter later on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Garda said: \u201cGarda\u00ed in the Dublin Region are aware of an alleged sighting of an unconfirmed object over the Irish Sea, off the east coast, earlier this evening, Tuesday, 8th September 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na continue to investigate the reports in conjunction with the relevant authorities.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has confirmed there were no authorised civilian drone operations in the area at the time of the reported sighting. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Irish Aviation Authority was notified of the reported drone sighting on Tuesday evening,\u201d it said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe IAA is aware that An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na has initiated an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IAA can confirm there was no authorised civil drone operations in the area at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

AirNav Ireland<\/a>, which provides air traffic management services in Irish airspace, said on Tuesday night that an aircraft \u201carriving into Dublin this evening reported a possible drone sighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn line with our normal safety procedures, a safety report was filed and the sighting was reported to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na. As this matter is now with the relevant authorities, we have no further comment at this time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump. Photograph: Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish Times view on hybrid attacks in Europe: a new security orderOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Air traffic controllers asked various aircraft in the general area if they had caught sight of the object. None reported that they did, according to recordings reviewed by The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve no radar return down there and nothing that we\u2019re aware of in the area,\u201d an air traffic controller told one aircraft. \u201cSo, just keep your eyes out there, would you mind?\u201d<\/p>\n

Security and defence analyst Declan Power<\/a> described the sighting of a drone off the Wicklow coast on Tuesday as a classic example of hybrid warfare. <\/p>\n

Power said it would be difficult to prove from which location or by whom the drone had been launched. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to detect. In some respects, you could argue that the drone nearly wanted to be seen where and when it was flying,\u201d he told Newstalk Breakfast. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s a classic example of hybrid warfare, where it\u2019s causing an impact without any particular comeback for whoever launched it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a high-profile drone incident in December 2025, drones were spotted flying near Dublin during the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. <\/p>\n

After the incident, EU Council president Antonio Costa expressed his \u201cfull confidence\u201d in Ireland\u2019s ability to deal with security threats. <\/p>\n

He called the drone incident a \u201chybrid attack\u201d from Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened last week here in Dublin is another example of the hybrid attacks from Russia, and the hybrid threats from Russia to the European territory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov denied Russia was involved in the incident, the Taoiseach said \u201cI don\u2019t share his views\u201d. <\/p>\n

At the time, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan insisted additional security measures for drones would be in place for Ireland\u2019s EU presidency. <\/p>\n

The reported drone incident on Tuesday came just after the conclusion of a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Dublin. <\/p>\n

Aer Lingus and the Irish Coast Guard have been contacted for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Procurement of offshore counter-drone technology is \u201cbeing pursued\u201d, the Taoiseach said after a large drone was reported over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[601,97351,45,969,615,61,60,1393,43,7469],"class_list":["post-619333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aer-lingus","tag-airnav-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-donald-trump","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-open","tag-news","tag-wicklow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}