Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position in relation to Rockall under the international law of the sea and the related rights of exploration that ensue from the issue of jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18505/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of Rockall has in the past been a source of legal and political controversy in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. Much of that controversy was due to fears at the time that jurisdiction over Rockall and similar rocks and skerries would be a crucial factor in establishing rights over mineral and other resources in the adjacent seabed and to fishing rights in the surrounding seas. However, during the course of the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place between 1973 and 1982, the Irish delegation played a leading role in securing agreement on a satisfactory legal regime applicable to islands. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted at Montego Bay at the conclusion of the conference on 10 December 1982, provides at Article 121, paragraph 3 that: "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf."

Article 121 (3) applies to Rockall. Ireland ratified the Convention on 21 June 1996. The United Kingdom acceded to the Convention on 25 July 1997. It is accordingly accepted by both states that Rockall cannot be used as a basis for delimiting their respective continental shelves or fisheries zones.

While the United Kingdom continues to claim jurisdiction over Rockall, this claim is not accepted by Ireland. Each country remains aware of the position of the other.