A photo of the Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Rossa Mulcahy was deleted this evening from Mr Gavin's social media campaign platforms.
The photograph was taken today at the event organised by the ONE group which advocates for the needs of veteran former members of the Defence Forces.
The Chief of Staff is precluded from endorsing any political candidates or making public commentary on political matters.
A spokesperson for Mr Gavin's campaign said tonight that footage is taken every day and photos and videos of this are kept under regular review and are often edited.
"Jim participated in this event as he does frequently," they said.
Gavin says he did not see drone during park run
It comes after Fianna Fáil's presidential candidate Jim Gavin has said he did not see a drone flying during a park run in Dublin last weekend.
In a statement this morning, a Fianna Fáil spokesperson confirmed a drone was used during a park run event last Saturday in Porterstown, and that the drone pilot was "not aware" it was an area where permission was required.
Speaking to reporters today, Mr Gavin said if he had seen the drone, he would have asked the operator whether he had been given permission to fly there.
He also said while he had seen the video before yesterday, it was only then that the matter of permission was brought to his attention.
He said it was then that he asked the operator to file the "voluntary occurrence report".
Jim Gavin also said if mistakes are made in aviation it was not about apportioning blame, but rather reporting and learning from it.
He said he is sure the drone operator has learned from it.
"Mistakes are made, we simply learn from them.
"I’ll make mistakes in this campaign. That’s life, I’m human. We simply learn from it," he said.
He also said his team will check and carry out an audit to see if the other drones used in his campaign so far have complied with the necessary rules.
Watch: Gavin says he did not see drone at park run event
It comes after Fianna Fáil said it was an "oversight" that it used a drone to shoot footage of a park run by Jim Gavin in an area where drones are not allowed to be flown without being given the all clear for safety.
The location where the event took place is classed as a UAS geographical 'red zone', meaning that any individual must receive explicit prior permission from the local controlling authority before a drone is allowed to be flown.
However, despite Mr Gavin's role as chief operations officer of the Irish Aviation Authority - a role that means he is responsible for air safety in Ireland - no permission was sought for the drone footage to be used to record a campaign video.
In a statement this morning in response to a report in the Irish Independent, a party spokesperson said: "The registered drone pilot was not aware that this was a UAS Geographical Zone where prior permission was required from the local controlling authority.
"This was an oversight on the drone pilot's part.
"As soon as Jim became aware of the oversight, he asked the drone pilot to submit a Voluntary Safety Occurrence Report via the European Aviation Safety Portal.
"This is a proactive measure to allow the IAA to collect and analyse information to help improve our air safety."
The spokesperson added that air safety was at no stage compromised, and that all subsequent procedures were followed.
The use of unauthorised drones has become an increasing source of debate in Ireland in recent years, meaning stricter rules are now in place to outline when and where they can and cannot be used.
No better start to the day than @parkrunIE
— Jim Gavin For President (@gavinforthearas) September 27, 2025
Thanks to all the volunteers at Porterstown Park for running such a great event.
Fully energised and ready to hit the campaign trail💪🏻🏃🏻 pic.twitter.com/3DLeII4AmF
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he believed the drone operator at the centre of the controversy surrounding Jim Gavin's promotional film did not realise the park was a prohibited area.
"The drone operator didn't realise the park was prohibited. He’s registered. The incident has been notified through the portal and I think it was an honest mistake."
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, CEO of drone operation training company, Avtrain, Julie Garland said there are currently no drones available that are allowed to fly over a group of people.
"An assembly of people is not a specific number of people, it’s where people are so closely packed together, they would be unable to avoid the consequences of the failure of a drone," she said.
"Therefore, it’s not a specific number of people, but if there’s an assembly or a group of people together, you’re not allowed to fly your drone overhead that group of people.
Ms Garland said that Mr Gavin may not have been aware that the drone operator did not have the relevant qualifications to fly the drone over the race.
"The reality is that Jim (Gavin) was participating in the middle of a race, and you would make an assumption that if an operator is flying a drone at an organised event, they would have the appropriate qualifications in place," she said.
Watch: Jim Gavin explains drone safety rules in 2022
Ms Garland said that if people have concerns about the flying of drones, there are different ways to report it.
"There’s a portal called ECCAIRS, which is the European Coordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting. Any member of the public can make a report through ECCAIRS, as well as licenced operators, pilots and any industry professional. You don’t have to register, as a user you can go on and make a safety report," she said.
"We do have remote IDs on any drones that are flying. A member of the public can download apps, so if there is a drone flying and they want to identify who the operator of that drone is, they can download an app on their phone, things like Dronescanner, there’s a few different ones available out there.
"There’s a signal radiating from that drone. If they have any concerns, they can record that and they can then make a report to either the gardaí or the Irish Aviation Authority," she added.
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'Mean-spirited' approach by Govt
Elsewhere today, Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly raised the case of survivors of industrial schools who are on hunger strike outside the Dáil.
During Leaders' Questions in the Dáil, Deputy Connolly said "for 11 days now four people have felt they have had no choice other than to go on hunger strike", saying she is "extremely worried for those women and men".
She described the protesters as "courageous people", and added: "Nobody in your Government met them until Monday, I understand. There's a mean-spirited approach from Government and the previous government in relation to redress for people who have been in institutions."
Humphreys denies Harris asked for Green Paper to be scrapped
Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys has denied that Tánaiste Simon Harris asked her to scrap the controversial Green Paper.
The Green Paper was a 47-page document published by the Department of Social Protection in 2023, outlining reform of how benefits are paid to people with disabilities.
The document was widely criticised following its publication.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Ms Humphreys said that she made the decision to drop the Green Paper herself.
"I decided that myself. And can I just say, I have worked very hard for health carers and disabled people," she said.
"The Green Paper was only ever a consultation document. It came on foot of a cost of disability report, which clearly said the people who have profound disabilities incur more cost."
Ms Humphreys said that Mr Harris had nothing to do with the decision to scrap the Green Paper, and that she came to the decision herself after there were "genuine concerns" about its implementation.
"I did consultations. I met people. I talked to people. I went around to many different meetings to hear their views," she said.
"There were genuine concerns out there on the Green Paper. So, I did not proceed with it, and I think it was better that I listened to people and acted on what they told me.
Ms Humphreys also said she was committed to Ireland's neutrality, but said she accepted we were "living in a changing world" and we are part of the EU.
"It is important that the EU is able to defend itself and when I look at what's happened in Ukraine only last Saturday night there was a massive drone attack - and but for the support that Germany and other countries are giving to Ukraine there would have been a massacre of people."
