MAD idea to allow drones rule skies

THE bad news for Donald Trump is there's some new competition on the block for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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He is desperate to get his hands on an award that already adorns the mantelpieces of some arch rivals like Barack Obama and the EU.

But he may have to wait a bit longer.

I know this thanks to having engaged in that most fundamental of citizenship rites last week, the public town hall meeting.

I watched over the course of two hours as the CEO of the drone delivery company Manna emerged as a real contender to follow in the footsteps of previous laureates like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King Jnr.

At first look Bobby Healy of Manna Air Delivery (MAD) might look like just another CEO chasing the bottom line.

But by the end of a gruelling duel with residents - whose neighbourhood he wants to turn into a drop zone for fast food delivery from the sky - he was resembling the reincarnation of Capuchin monk Fr Kevin Crowley.

Between deflecting concerns over the maddening noise and creepy privacy breaches that underpin his business model, Bobby was flouting an impressive humanitarian streak.

He told the meeting how he was housing a family of Ukrainian refugees in his home; breathlessly revealed his flying fish'n'chip delivery service could save 900 lives a year by airdropping defibrillators. Bobby even dared to dream how it could throw a lifeline to the lonely and housebound as well as be great fun for the kids.

And he's doing all that in his spare time between busting his tech startup hump to put “Ireland on the map” against the goliaths of Amazon and Google. What a guy.