James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding Deputy Brady's political assault on Fianna Fáil and other parties, which is irrelevant to the debate, it is important to put down some law around the subject and to consider the points. I am sympathetic to Deputy Mac Lochlainn's points about Rockall, which he made well. Section 2 refers to islands and amendment No. 1 seeks to redefine the definition of an island. I would query whether that is possible under international law. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, enacted in 1982, an outcrop that is uninhabitable does not usually qualify as an island. I see what the Deputies are trying to do. I see the good faith arguments put forward by Deputy Mac Lochlainn in particular and I share the ideas behind them, but I am just not quite sure if that is feasible from a technical point of view because that convention is an international treaty signed up to by 182 countries. I do not know if that is feasible, much as we might wish to do it and though I see where the Deputies are coming from on it. I am just asking that question.

To contradict Deputy Brady, Fianna Fáil governments led the charge through the ten years of negotiations that led to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea being enacted in 1982 and being opened for signatures. Let us get the history straight as well as the law.

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