Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has brought proposals to Cabinet concerning the expansion of Ireland's international boundaries to allow for further offshore exploration; the potential benefits for Ireland in this regard; the likelihood of the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to accept these proposals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18504/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Article 77 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 provides that a coastal state exercises over its continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting its natural resources. It exercises these rights out to a maximum distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, or further if the shelf naturally extends beyond that limit. Where the submerged prolongation of its land territory extends beyond 200 nautical miles, a state is required by Article 76 of the convention to submit information on the limits of its extended continental shelf to the commission on the limits of the continental shelf. Such a submission should be accompanied by technical and scientific data that support the claimed limits. The commission, which is composed of 21 scientific experts, considers the submission and then issues recommendations to the submitting state. The limits established on the basis of these recommendations are final and binding. These limits mark the boundary between the continental shelf of the coastal state and the international deep seabed "area", which is the common heritage of all mankind.

Ireland claims a broad continental shelf which, in the Hatton-Rockall area to the west, extends more than 500 nautical miles from shore before reaching the deep seabed. Although a continental boundary agreement here was concluded between Ireland and the UK in 1988, this cannot bind Iceland or Denmark, in respect of the Faroe Islands, which both make overlapping claims. There are similar unresolved boundary issues in the Celtic Sea involving France and Spain. The State claims a further portion of extended continental shelf between these two areas, in the region of the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, which has not been the subject of any dispute with another state.

The terms of the convention require Ireland to make its submission to the commission within ten years of entry into force of the convention with respect to the State, that is, by 21 July 2006. However, the tenth meeting of the states parties to the convention, which took place in 2000, decided to extend the ten year period to May 2009 for all states that had ratified or acceded to the convention before 13 May 1999, the date on which the commission adopted its scientific and technical guidelines. However, the commission's rules of procedure prevent consideration by it of any submission in respect of a part of the continental shelf that is the subject of a dispute except with the prior consent of all the disputing parties.

Work on the preparation of Ireland's submission began over ten years ago and extensive seismic and bathymetric surveys of the extended shelf claimed by Ireland were conducted on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in 1995 and 1996. Detailed consideration and analysis of this data followed and more recently the question of how to handle submissions for the two disputed areas of shelf has been the subject of two separate sets of consultations with the states concerned.

Following the completion of work on Ireland's submission, the Government recently authorised me and my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, to arrange for a partial submission in respect of the undisputed area of the extended continental shelf abutting the Porcupine Abyssal Plain to be made to the Commission. This partial submission was lodged with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 25 May last.

Ireland's submission will be considered at the next session of the commission, which takes place at the end of August. A sub-commission of seven members will be established for this purpose. It is hoped that the commission's recommendations will be issued next year.

The limits established on the basis of the commission's recommendations will enable the Government to designate up to an additional 39,000 km2 of seabed pursuant to the Continental Shelf Act 1968. Once designated, hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration may be licensed there.

Ireland is the fourth country to make a submission to the commission, following upon submissions made by the Russian Federation in 2001 and by Brazil and Australia in 2004.