David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Mac Lochlainn for proposing a Commencement matter on this important matter. I apologise for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who cannot be present.

The Government's response to the recent assertion by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been twofold. First, we have made unequivocally clear Ireland's position and the Government's rejection of the UK's claim regarding Lough Foyle. Second, we have sought to return the focus of discussion and of work on the matter to dealing in a positive and pragmatic way with the matters that have arisen from the differences on jurisdictional issues.

I will briefly outline the Government's approach to the House. Ireland has never accepted the UK's claim to the whole of Lough Foyle. Uncertainty concerning the extent to which each side exercises jurisdiction within Lough Foyle has created practical difficulties for the conduct of a number of activities there, as the Senator outlined. This includes a difficulty in creating a system for the licensing of aquaculture by the Loughs Agency in accordance with the intentions of the two Governments under the 1999 agreement establishing the North-South implementation bodies. The Government wishes to see the Loughs Agency working to its full potential, which is in the interests of everyone on this island.

Following discussions in 2011 between the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and British Foreign Secretary, both Governments agreed to seek to address and resolve jurisdictional issues relating to Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough. Since then, a series of meetings have taken place at official level between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The issues in question are complex and involve a range of different actors, including the Crown Estates.

As regards the specific issue of the parliamentary reply on 16 November by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the position of the Irish Government was clearly outlined by the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, in his public comments immediately afterwards. He set out Ireland's long-standing rejection of the UK claim and the Government's wish to focus on finding practical resolutions to the consequences of ongoing jurisdictional issues in Lough Foyle. He also raised the matter directly with the Secretary of State, Mr. Brokenshire, in the course of a telephone call on 23 November. Again, the Minister conveyed the Government's surprise at the Secretary of State's statement, in particular the fact that it did not refer to Ireland's position or acknowledge the ongoing negotiations between the two Governments that seek to address all jurisdictional issues on the island. The Minister noted that the stark statement on Lough Foyle at Westminster had also raised understandable concerns on both sides of the Border, but particularly in the north west. He noted that such absolute statements on jurisdiction did nothing to advance the practical co-operation and progress on the issues that require a pragmatic solution. Similar messages have been conveyed at official level to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which leads on this issue for the UK side.

Progress is in the interests of both Governments and the people of the island of Ireland. Therefore, this work will be taken forward in the continuing discussions between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office under the political oversight and direction of the Minister and his British counterpart.