Setbacks faced by Bobby Healy’s drone firm Manna are really beginning to mount up in Ireland.The serial Irish entrepreneur chose his home country as the test bed for his latest company, which delivers groceries and food takeaways. An admirable move considering he could have picked more hospitable environments to do so worldwide. Manna is also eyeing the US and British markets for its drone delivery services. Manna has made some inroads since it was set up in 2019, but as more people become familiar with what drone delivery looks, and sounds like, in its current form anyway, a large number of people have made clear that they don’t want it in their neighbourhoods. Naturally, any company trying something as new and novel as air-delivered coffees will face some opposition. Especially if its business model relies on hovering large, loud vehicles over housing estates.However, it doesn’t really matter what members of the public think. Manna should be more concerned about what local authority planning units think of its drone hubs. Last year, it was refused permission to retain a drone delivery hub in Blanchardstown, west Dublin, after a planning enforcement notice was issued by Fingal County Council. The local authority said the facility constituted an unauthorised development.Cork City Council’s planning unit has also sent Manna warning letters raising concerns about its operation there. More recently, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council refused the company permission to create a new drone hub on a site in Dundrum village. More than 200 submissions on the hub were lodged with the local authority. Manna has invested close to €50 million into its Irish operation since 2019, which has been booked as a loss on its balance sheet.Its latest financial filings show it made total revenue of €209,969 between 2019 and 2024. It employs more than 200 staff. Manna said it has carried out more than 300,000 deliveries in Ireland, which raises the question as to what scale the company would have to operate at in Ireland to generate turnover at a level that would make it profitable.Its focus now might have to switch to markets abroad if the company is to truly take off.