Dr. Cecil Beamish:

The question relates to articles recently that have referred to the 2013 and 1988 agreements on the exclusive economic zone, EEZ. There was a difference of opinion between Ireland and the United Kingdom for many years on where the boundary of the exclusive economic zone fell going north west from Donegal for 200 miles. The continental shelf and jurisdictions are the business of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and an agreement was reached on the seabed boundary in 1988. In 2013, there was agreement on the boundary in the water above the seabed. They are the same single maritime boundary. The drivers in reaching that agreement were concerns about who had responsibility for maritime pollution incidents and who would respond in different areas. Some issues arose at the time. There was also the matter of the development of offshore wind facilities and in which jurisdiction they could be located if consented. The boundary was set but even when there were two different boundaries in terms of the exclusive economic zone, Rockall was always on the UK side of that boundary. There was never a point where Rockall was not in the UK EEZ. The fact that a single boundary was agreed in 2013 and that the continental shelf boundary was agreed in 1988 did not change the Rockall issue.

The Rockall issue centres on whether a claim by the UK of sovereignty and its unilateral actions to support that are accepted by the State. This State, through successive Governments, has never accepted it. Ireland has never claimed sovereignty of Rockall. It is a dispute over the UK's creation of sovereignty on that rock and, subsequent to that, the creation of a 12-mile zone that the UK claims for exclusive access around Rockall. That is not accepted by the State either. There is detail behind that. In earlier decades, there was debate as the United Kingdom was seeking to establish a new exclusive economic zone based on Rockall as a starting point, which would have pushed it way out. The United Kingdom conceded that claim and no longer makes such a claim. That matter does not arise. There are other ongoing disputes about the continental shelf involving Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Ireland that are unresolved. They concern seabed issues. The 2013 agreement has no relevance to current issues around fisheries rights around Rockall.