“Should hundreds of people lose their peace and quiet in order for a cup of coffee to be flown over them and delivered to a particular person?”

This was the question posed in the Dáil last week by Dublin TD Ruth Coppinger, querying why a private company is allowed to disrupt the peace with drone deliveries.

My answer is an emphatic “No!”.

But now, the residents of Blanchardstown in Dublin and Blackrock in Cork do have to tolerate this unnecessary intrusion if a next-door neighbour decides they want a flat white delivered by drone. But the backlash against Manna’s Air Delivery service operating from the Marina Market is mounting. Concerned residents in the Blackrock test zone have organised public meetings, Cork City Council have issued an enforcement notice against the operation in Cork. In Dublin, Manna has been refused retention of its base in Coolmine.

Curious to know what Manna was offering that was so desirable, I downloaded the app and pretended I lived in a fancy house on Blackrock Road - one of Cork’s more salubrious streets and part of Manna’s delivery test zone - to see, if I was so inclined, what could I get dropped to my back garden. Sausages, donuts, ice pops, steak and chips, Chinese food, pizza, burritos, a can of Coke or even, unexpectedly, a box of tampons. I stopped short of actually ordering — that would have required sharing my........

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