Jim O'Keeffe
Question:63 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position in relation to Rockall, and the delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Ireland and Britain. [8599/03]
Written Answers - Oil and Mineral Rights.
As I said in reply to a similar question on 5 March, much of the controversy attending the issue of Rockall arose from unresolved fears that jurisdiction over it and similar rocks and skerries was considered to be central to ownership of the mineral rights in the adjacent seabed and to fishing rights in the surrounding seas. During the course of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea Ireland worked hard to establish a satisfactory legal regime applicable to islands. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted at Montego Bay at the conclusion of the conference on 10 December 1982, provides at Article 121 paragraph 3 that:
Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
Article 121(3) applies to Rockall. Ireland ratified the Convention on 21 June 1996. The United Kingdom acceded to the Convention on 25 July 1997. It is accordingly accepted by both states that Rockall cannot be used as a basis for delimiting their respective continental shelves or fisheries zones. While the United Kingdom continues to claim jurisdiction over Rockall, this claim is not accepted by Ireland. Each country remains aware of the position of the other.
Agreement between Ireland and Britain on the delimitation of a great extent of the continental shelf was reached some years ago. The agreement between the Irish Government and the UK Government concerning the delimitation of areas of the continental shelf between the two countries was done at Dublin on 7 November 1988 and entered into force 11 January 1990. The two Governments decided to delimit a further small area of the continental shelf in the Irish Sea prior to the construction of a gas pipeline between Moffat in Scotland and Loughshinny. This was done by means of a Protocol supplementary to the agreement of 1988 which was signed at Dublin on 8 December 1992 and entered into force on 26 March 1993.
In anticipation of the construction of a second gas pipeline between Beattock, near Moffat in Scotland and Gormanstown, the two Governments concluded an agreement pursuant to Article 83 paragraph 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 on the provisional delimitation of a yet further small area of the continental shelf. This agreement affects a provisional arrangement of a practical nature and is without prejudice to the final delimitation of the continental shelf in the area concerned. It was concluded by an exchange of letters between the then Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Frank Fahey, dated 18 October 2001 and the then British Minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr. Peter Hain, MP, dated 31 October 2001. It entered into force on the latter date.