Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Committees have the right to waive pre-legislative scrutiny because they will be doing it. It is in a committee's gift to do so. When I was on committees, members would decide whether pre-legislative scrutiny was warranted. That is the role of Oireachtas committees and they have the right to make that decision. I would also like to put it on the record that officials from the Department made themselves available to Deputies and were happy to provide detailed briefings to the Opposition Members who requested same.

A lot of the points made during the debate relate to issues that are beyond the scope of this Bill. A lot of the issues related to this Bill will be dealt with under different legislation. Most of the points raised in the debate are not specific to this Bill and are outside its scope. That said, those elements that do come within the scope of the Bill can be the subject of amendments on Committee Stage. Consideration will be given to this debate and the points raised here will be borne in mind as part of that process.

I would also like to address the issue of the exclusion of Irish fishing vessels from the 12-mile zone around Rockall, which has been raised by numerous Deputies. I assure Deputies that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs on this issue. As Deputies will be aware, the Government's long-standing position has been that remote rocks in the middle of the ocean that cannot support human habitation should not be subject to claims of sovereignty by any state. It is for that reason that no Irish Government has ever made such a claim, nor has it recognised the UK's 1955 claim to Rockall. Traditionally, we have treated the waters around Rockall as part of the UK's exclusive economic zone and, therefore, while the UK was a member of the EU, part of the EU's waters opened to the vessels of all member states. We did not recognise a 12-mile territorial sea around it.

The Government has been in contact with the relevant Scottish and UK authorities about Rockall in recent years and intensively so since the beginning of this year but clearly the issue has become more complex since Brexit. The Minister for Foreign Affairs discussed the matter directly with his then Scottish counterpart, former Cabinet Secretary Michael Russell, before the recent Scottish election. Contacts have resumed since the election and we continue to engage with the Scottish side. We are committed to addressing the issues involved, reflecting the long-standing fisheries tradition in the area.

I would also like to take this opportunity to address a related issue raised during the debate, namely, the 2013 agreement between Ireland and the UK establishing boundaries between the exclusive economic zones of the two countries. That 2013 agreement builds on the 1988 agreement, which established continental shelf boundaries between Ireland and the UK. It provides that the continental shelf boundaries should also serve as the boundaries between the exclusive economic zones. As the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, has explained, the exclusive economic zone is the water column that sits above the continental shelf out to a maximum distance of 200 nautical miles from the coast. By using the 1988 boundaries with the 2013 agreement, a single maritime boundary was established between 12 and 200 miles, both in the water and on the seabed beneath.

I should add that Rockall should not be confused with the extensive Hatton-Rockall continental shelf area, which extends westward beyond the Rockall trough and into the north-east Atlantic to a distance of more than 500 nautical miles from Ireland and Britain. The rock of Rockall is the only part of the Hatton-Rockall continental shelf that protrudes above the water. The 1988 agreement divided the Hatton-Rockall area between Ireland and the UK, although that agreement is not accepted by Iceland or Denmark, which make competing claims to the area but not to the rock. Rockall was irrelevant to determining the 1988 boundaries. Nothing in either the 1988 agreement or the 2013 agreement altered Ireland's long-standing position on Rockall, nor does either agreement have any implications for the present difficulties between Ireland and Scotland over fishing within 12 miles of Rockall.

Offshore available energy was also referred to during the debate. The question of where offshore wind farms would be located, including matters relating to minimum distances from shore, will be addressed within the framework of the forthcoming maritime planning and development management Bill. Questions relating to the planning permission for wind farms are beyond the scope of the maritime jurisdiction Bill. What I can say at this stage is that there is no provision in Irish law for licensing a wind farm outside the 12-mile limit of the territorial sea. The Bill sets out clearly that the State has jurisdiction to license such developments in the 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The maritime planning and development management Bill, in turn, will make detailed provision for how this is to be carried out, including in planning permissions. The programme for Government contains a commitment to developing a long-term plan for the production of at least 30 GW of offshore floating wind power in our deeper waters in the Atlantic.

A number of Deputies raised issues relating to fisheries in general. While I understand the concerns that have led to Deputies raising these issues here, I am afraid that they lie beyond the scope of this Bill. However, the Government is well aware of these matters. I assure Deputies that they are receiving attention within the relevant frameworks.

It is important to recognise that we cannot provide in our domestic law for rights or jurisdiction that exceed what is permitted by international law. As I have explained, for each maritime zone international law establishes a suite of rights and obligations for the coastal state, which balances another suite of rights and obligations for all other states whose vessels and citizens may share that ocean space. The development of maritime zones in international law has been an essential element in reducing both conflicts at sea and conflicts between states caused by competing claims to uses of the sea.

I wish to thank Deputies for their careful consideration of the Bill this afternoon and during the previous debate. It is my pleasure to commend the Bill to the House.

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