Photography & Drones — Ireland
What travelers need to know about photography & drones in Ireland. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Photography & Drones in Ireland: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
No Irish statute we have verified requires a permit for ordinary photography in public; the real criminal exposure is military and state-security subjects. Under the Official Secrets Act 1963 a sketch expressly includes a photograph or any other way of representing a place or thing, and section 9 makes it an offence to obtain, record, communicate, publish or hold — in any manner prejudicial to the safety or preservation of the State — information about the Defence Forces, their operations or dispositions, defence fortifications, or munitions of war. It is a defence that a Minister authorised the act, or that you did it in the course of your duties as the holder of a public office. Two limits on this entry: it covers that Act only, and it does not cover flying a drone, which is governed by separate aviation rules.
Official Secrets Act 1963, section 13: on summary conviction the Act prints a fine of one hundred pounds, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both — the revised text we read carries no euro restatement of that figure, so we do not publish one. On conviction on indictment for a section 9 offence, or for a Part II offence committed in a manner prejudicial to the safety or preservation of the State: imprisonment for up to two years, or penal servitude for up to seven years.
§ Law Reform Commission, Revised Acts (electronic Irish Statute Book) — Official Secrets Act 1963, ss. 2, 9 and 13; Revised Act updated to 15 April 2021, page stating the Act is up to date with all changes known to be in force as at 17 September 2026Verified Oct 13, 2026