asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the extent of the territorial waters of the State.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers (Resumed). - Territorial Waters.
8.
As provided in the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959, the territorial seas of the State are that portion of the sea lying between the baseline and a line drawn three nautical miles outside the baseline.
Does the Minister agree that the territorial waters of this State are the waters contained in the dimensions which he mentioned surrounding the complete island of Ireland as provided for in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and the treaty between Ireland and Britain of 1938?
This is a matter of constitutional and international law that has never been definitively established.
What is the Government's view?
We have a view.
What is it?
It is a question of whether that view would be upheld in the appropriate courts.
What is the Government's view?
Does the Government's view coincide with the Fine Gael view that the territorial waters are all the waters around the whole island of Ireland?
This has never been legally determined.
Is it or is it not the Government's view?
It is our view but that is a separate issue.
That was hard work.
That is what the Minister was asked.