Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 298: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the steps that are being taken to put in place a legislative and management structure for the extended shelf off the western and southern land mass. [14057/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) the continental shelf is that part of the seabed over which a coastal State exercises sovereign rights with regard to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources including oil and gas deposits as well as other minerals and biological resources of the seabed.

Where the continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles a State is required by the Convention to make a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Commission assesses the limits and data submitted by the coastal State and makes recommendations, which are final and binding. For the purposes of preparing its submissions, Ireland has divided its extended continental shelf into three sub-areas — Zone A (Hatton-Rockall area), Zone B (Porcupine Abyssal Plain — "western area") and Zone C (Celtic Sea/Bay of Biscay — "southern area") and has made submissions in respect of Zones B and C (see below).

In relation to Zone B, or the "western area", Ireland made a submission for the central undisputed portion of its extended continental shelf in the area of the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in May 2005. We expect final recommendations from the Commission in April 2007. The preliminary findings of the sub-commission examining the submission indicate acceptance of the outer limits as submitted, with some minor modifications. Although Ireland was the fourth country to make a submission (after the Russian Federation in 2001, and Brazil and Australia in 2004) this will result in Ireland becoming the first state to receive final and binding recommendations on an outer limit from the Commission.

Zone C, or the "southern area", was the subject of a joint submission to the Commission, made by Ireland together with the UK, France and Spain in May 2006. It is hoped that the Commission will issue its final recommendations in August 2007. It is expected that the major part, if not all, of the outer limit will be accepted by the Commission. Thereafter, the question of delimitation of this zone established on the basis of these recommendations will be considered by the four states concerned.

The current Irish designated area is set out in S.I. No. 657 of 2001 and the relevant legislation exists in the Continental Shelf Act No. l4 of 11 June l968. Until the recommendations are formally issued by the Commission, Ireland is not in a position to amend its designated continental shelf. Furthermore, until delimitation negotiations are completed in Zone C, the exact area in the Celtic Sea/Bay of Biscay — "southern area" under Irish jurisdiction is unknown.

The Irish designated continental shelf area has previously been mapped and surveyed under programmes undertaken by my Department under the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS). It is anticipated that these newly awarded areas would be surveyed by the INSS successor programme, INFOMAR, being undertaken jointly by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute. Such surveys are the basis for the development of a comprehensive management plan.