The newly-appointed DAA CEO has said he wants to see 'very heavy sentencing' for people who fly drones near airports.

Kenny Jacobs was speaking after 16 flights had to be diverted last weekend when a drone was in the vicinity of Dublin Airport.

He told The Hard Shoulder there needs to be a harder crackdown on this from the State.

"Our hope is that it doesn't happen again," he said.

"I think what happened last weekend - there were four confirmed incidents of drones.

"I don't think it was anything accidental, I think it was malicious - that would be an investigation in the hands of An Garda Síochána.

"We have a de-drone detection system which tracks them, and tracks anything coming into the airfield.

"I think the key message is, for the public, [that] it's illegal and people are breaking the law if they operate a drone within five kilometres of Dublin Airport - or any airport."

Drone counter-system

Mr Jacobs said there is nothing stopping drones being flown elsewhere.

"It was Dublin Airport last weekend, next weekend it could be another airport in Ireland, it could be over the Aviva Stadium," he said.

"The solution to this is not really one in the hands of Dublin Airport, it's more an issue for the State".

Mr Jacobs said a drone counter-system is being used by London's Metropolitan Police in the UK.

"That allows you to not just track drones, but it also allows you to take control of a drone, send it back where it came from and if you need to drop a drone and bring it down in a controlled fashion," he said.

"That's something we should consider for airports, but [also] for other key vital infrastructure.

"This would be a State-wide issue - we don't have the ability to bring down drones.

"I think the only people who can do that are actually are the Army or the Air Corps".

'Heavy sentencing'

Mr Jacobs said there needs to be convictions around this illegal activity.

"The two key things that would move us forward here would be Ireland saying we want to have this system to protect airports and other vital infrastructure, and also would be very heavy sentencing," he said.

"In the UK, you can get up to a life sentence if you are illegally operating a drone over an airspace.

"You can get a seven year sentence in Ireland, but we would love to see some really serious sentencing and convictions on this.

"This is a safety-first concern; it's illegal and very, very dangerous for anyone to operate a drone near an airfield and it has to stop," he added.

Listen back to the full interview below: